Odyssey
by Toxic Picnic
Summary: When a friend from Tia's past comes back the Digidestined and their Digimon are pitched headfirst into a strange new world R+R, cuz this is my first! Ch 7 is up!
1. The Beginning

Odyssey  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, that's owned by Toei, Bandai, and other people, or any Digimon characters that they created. The characters Lexx and Cunomon belong to ussfantasy@hotmail.com, Jennifer and Foximon belong to foximon@inreach.com, and Sammie and Foxmon belong to fluffysessie@hotmail.com. Andrew Windstalker, Serra Windstalker, and John Chronos belong to me. You may contact me at Tash@dbzmail.com  
  
This story takes place one year after season 02. Davis, Yoeli, Cody, and Ken are all on vacation in Osaka. Therefore only the original Digidestined start in this story, except of course Lexx, Jennifer, and Sammie. Below is a brief summary of Lexx's, Jennifer and Sammie's stories if you haven't heard of them and their Digimon partners. If you'd prefer to just skip it be my guest. By the way, this is my first fic ever, so please R+R!  
  
Lexx: With dark bluish hair and green eyes, a purple vest and an anti-girly- girl composure, Lexx or Lexxy isn't a person you would see wearing short shirts or shorts. Or both! She has a major crush on Izzy, and they seem to like each other even though neither have confessed their feelings yet. Her Digimon partner is the high, noble, and sometimes arrogant Cunomon, who resembles a small blue dragon without wings. Cunomon can digivolve into Sartomon. When Lexx received the Crest of Compassion, Sartomon could digivolve into Dracosartomon.  
  
Jennifer: Jinni (Jennifer) Takenouchi: Jennifer is the newest edition to the Digi Destined, but definitely not lacking in any aspect of being part of the team. Though at the start Jennifer was an exchange student going to summer camp, after meeting her digi-pal Junomon in The Digital World, she decided to stick around. Soon enough, Junomon Digivolved to the beautiful Foximon. Jennifer is a cheerful girl who tries her best, and believes in what she fights for, making her a good opponent. She doesn't really feel she has any responsibilities being in the group except for the usual, so spends her time with her new found boyfriend, Matt. Jennifer has The Crest of Loyalty which causes a lot of commotion but in the end, works out perfectly for her. After the defeat of Apocalymon, The Digi-Destined returned back to their homes. Except for Jennifer, she explains to them that she can't go back home to the U.S.A because there's no point for her to go. She has no home. She begins her story by telling them that she used to live with her abusive Father, who moved away from Japan, and had taken little Jennifer with him, leaving his wife in Japan. She continues to explain that her Father later on died of Cardiac Arrest, leaving poor Jennifer on her own. Instead of going to an orphanage, Jennifer started a search for her birth mother, not knowing at the time that she's once lived in Japan. After a few years of research, Jennifer learned what her father had done, and decided to return to Japan. To do this she enrolled herself in a exchange program, and went to The Summer Camp, which led to her journey in the Digital World. Sparked with an idea, Jennifer's best friend (or Good friend?) Sora suggests Jennifer come and stay with her while Jennifer looks for her Mother. Soon enough the group discovered an incredible secret. Sora and Jennifer are twin sisters! Their mother explain that their father had left one night in a drunken rage, taking one of the twins with him. There was no way Mrs. Takenouchi could track down her husband, and so gave up hope of ever finding her other baby girl. As the story continues, interesting things start to develop, and the only way to say it is: Things will never be the same in the Takenouchi house again.  
  
Sammie: With black hair and eyes, Sammie is a very troubled person. She's manic-depressive almost to the point of having two personalities. One is dark, violent, and angry at the world, believing that no one cares and everyone hates her. In this 'persona' she is also very destructive. The other is pretty much a friendly, sarcastic tough-girl...yet she has a caring side in this persona that doesn't take a lot to show. She's had many suicidal attempts, some of them almost working, So henceforth she has deep scars on her wrists and chest. She has a bad cursing and drinking habit, and doesn't really care what people think of her. She's a bit of a whore and, when she wants to, is a very good temptress. Foxmon is the only one who keeps her halfway sane. She has a knife in her shorts that she has used many times, sometimes on herself. She has the Crest of Patience, and her partner is Foxmon who looks nothing like Foximon. Foxmon can digivolve to Vixinmon, Vixinmon can digivolve into Firevixinmon, and Foxmon can warp digivolve to Darkvixinmon.  
  
Haven't you had enough of me yet? Well anyway way, the ages of the Digidestined are as if they were the same as they were in 02 just add one year. Thanks! Now with that out of the way, sit back relax, and enjoy Odyssey, the story of the Digidestined's new battle. Can't you see? It's time to read Odyssey!  
  
Prologue: To be Known  
  
All creatures have had a test sometime in the time of their existence, a test to see if that race has the ability to survive in the world. If that race can succeed that test, then they are allowed to live in all mortal planes. Many creatures have failed this test, including the dinosaurs, the dodoes, the revoria, and the cartis. But now there is one test that has been planned for now a couple hundred million years, ever since the idea of humans was invented. Now, of course there must be someone for this test. As a random pick, the chosen were the Digidestined. This was debated for a long time in a divine counsel, and finally it was decided that they would do a task, with the help of another race, the first to finish their trials. Only three of the chosen race would help. Now is the test for humanity.  
  
Part One: Into the Trials  
  
Chapter One: The Beginning Taichi Kamiya stood out on a beach casting a weary eye over the glittering waters. They twinkled innocently back at him, inviting him to come in for a swim, but he knew better. Not everything in the Digital World was what it seemed. He knew that, probably the very reef in front of him was probably swarming with tons of Digimon. He scowled. The last few days had been very strange. One day, Izzy had been messing around with his old Digivice, when suddenly he found that he could get into the Digital World. Even more strange, he had found out that the Digimon could go to Ultimate and Mega again. It was too weird. They hadn't been able to do that ever since the Digimon emperor had come, and that was a while ago. Tai mulled this over for a while, as the sun slowly set in the distance. He glanced contentedly over Matt, who was sitting next to his girlfriend Jennifer. Nearby, Foximon and Gabumon were whacking a volleyball back in forth. Behind them Izzy and Lexxy were talking, looking awkward. He amused himself for a moment looking at these three sites when, quite suddenly a voice spoke to him.  
  
"Tai." It called. He jumped, for he was surprised that it seemed to be coming from out, beyond the sea from nothingness.  
  
"Ohhh, Tai, where are you." Then a new voice, higher pitched than the first that had sounded remarkably like his old school friend, Andrew.  
  
"I can see you Tai, I'm coming to get you, Tai. Tai." "Tai?" Tai wheeled around and saw, standing before him with a quizzical expression on her face, was Sora, his girlfriend.  
  
"Oh, hello Sora." Sora looked out over at the water " What were you looking at?" she asked.  
  
"Just the sun reflected on the water." He replied, and then smiled at her. She smiled back at him in an approving sort of way. For a while they stared out at the fiery ball in the sky hanging over the glistening waters, then they kissed.  
  
Later Tai was heading back to his home in the suburbs of Odiaba. He was a little freaked out, because now he remembered the voices that had spoken to him. It was creepy, but he figured he was just imagining it, even though it was so weird. He didn't even realize that he was going the opposite way he wanted to go until he saw a familiar store. Tai scowled, for he was about ½ mile from his destination.  
  
Starting back towards his home he suddenly noticed someone looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He saw an old woman in a leather coat with flaming red hair and a furtive smile on her face. A boy about seven ran up to her and suddenly whispered in her ear, staring at him. She nodded and replied in an undertone. He walked on, even more troubled than when he saw the store. As he was walking home he accidentally ran into two little kids of about nine.  
  
"Sorry." He said in an off-hand way to the boys. They stared at him, and then whispered to each other. They were doing a good job hiding their voices, but Tai caught some words, "That must be him. tell her. quiet. tell her.lets go. look at him, is he really. Yes, let's tell her." Then they ran off, leaving Tai stunned.  
  
Fifteen minutes later Tai jogged halfheartedly into his house. "Hi mom." he called. "Hello," she called back as Tai walked up into his room "how was school today?"  
  
"Fine." Tai said distractedly.  
  
A minute later Tai was sprawled onto his bed, thinking about that day. There had first been a strange voice speaking across the ocean, then the woman in the park, and the children. The truly strange thing was that they all seemed to remind him of something, as if from some other life.  
  
He rolled over, and forced himself to think clearer. He was being stupid. There was nothing out there invisible and talking to him. Those people in the park and in the street were probably playing a highly amusing trick on him. With a jolt he realized that he was going to the Digital World tomorrow, and would see all of his friends. They had figured they could go there to talk and stuff. And with all of the New Digidestined gone on vacation, they had to keep an eye over the Digital world. He rolled over and soon drifted into an uneasy sleep.  
  
Hours later, Tai was still fast asleep; completely oblivious to the fact that someone had just appeared out of the shadows in the corner of his room. This person was wearing a cloak of velvety black. He had warm gray eyes and jet-black hair. He stood in the middle of the room looking at the sleeping lump on the bed. Then he pulled out a gleaming golden pocket watch and flicked it open. It read, in glowing blue letters: Earth: 3:01 A.M. June 13th 2003, Then he flicked a button on the watch and it read: Rhune: 9:00 P.Q.M. 2:30 A.M. He hit it one more time and it said: Secretary Says: whatever time it is in all the worlds, it's all the same anyway, so go to bed. The man or I should say boy for he is only eleven in human years but nine hundred and thirty-six in, his own race, put the pocket watch away smiling. He stood in the shadows for about one more minute, when another person crept silently through the doorway, and into the room. She had an emerald green cloak and a gleaming breastplate that was just visible under a long sleeved shirt, which said, "Stop following me." Long dark brown hair streamed out behind her back and her shining blue eyes reminded people who looked at them like a ripple across a placid lake. Her armor made no noise, and when she crept there was no sound. In fact if you didn't know she was there, it would give the impression that you were alone.  
  
"Mornin' John" whispered the girl, who's voice seemed to give hope to those who have none. " Mornin," replied the man, "there he is, their leader." He gestured toward Tai, who slept peacefully on the bed. She looked at him and took in his dark hair and sleepy stature. Then she glanced back the man. " We will not wake him, I will explain everything tomorrow, or the day after." John raised an eyebrow at her, " Why?"  
  
" Being told that you and your friends are the sole hope against an onslaught which will wipe out their race, and that has disposed of millions of stronger creatures is not something to be heard at three in the morning." She sighed, "Well thanks for showing me him, now I will be able to recognize him. It's been five human years since I had to come to Tokyo for a mission, and I'm sure that this one will be extremely difficult. Best to start as soon as possible. Well, I better go tell Andrew. Later." She smiled as John disappeared into the shadows. The girl smiled at Tai, then left too. Tai gave a tremendous grunt, and awoke slightly. He thought he saw an emerald green cloak swish out of sight behind his door before dropping off again to sleep. 


	2. The Shadow of the Past

Disclaimer: As before, don't own digimon. Never have never will.  
  
Chapter Two: The Shadow of The Past  
  
The next day Sora suddenly jerked awake. She had been having a good dream about Tai and her taking a long stroll along a beach. They were about thirty, and married in the dream. She got up, dressed as usual, ate breakfast, and was just getting on the bus when she realized that today was Monday. The Digidestined agreed that every day they would go to the Digital world to check on things. But since stuff almost never happened anymore, they just talked and messed around. She had just gotten off the bus to school when she saw Tai walking in. She dashed up to meet him, and he smiled when he saw her.  
  
"Hi Sora, great day." Tai declared.  
  
"Yeah." She replied. She wanted to tell him about the dream, but decided to wait until they were in the Digital World. They were just turning the corner to their lockers while discussing midterms, when Tai ran into someone. She had long dark hair that wasn't tied up or anything, and looked as though she was thirteen. She had the usual school uniform on. Books that she had been carrying spilled all over the place. No one really noticed but just walked past her.  
  
" Sorry!" she muttered hurriedly to Tai, as she scrambled to pick up her fallen books.  
  
Then when she had retrieved the books she glanced at Tai. Her jaw dropped.  
  
"T-Taichi, Kamyia." she whispered as if she never met anyone like him.  
  
Sora scowled. Tai examined her for a moment, and then his jaw dropped too.  
  
"Serra? Is that you?" They looked at each other for a moment. Then both said at the exact same time " How long?" "What?!" Sora said in an exasperated sort of way, because she was annoyed that this Serra person interrupted their conversation. " This is my friend from." Tai trailed off as Serra picked up ". fifteen years ago." Then they both began to laugh, and kept laughing their heads off until finally they were next to Tai's locker. Sora's face began to burn.  
  
"What's so funny?" she asked heatedly.  
  
"Well, Tai was a great friend of mine about fifteen years ago, we did everything together, but five years later I had to move, I'll always regret that day, but now I moved back." Explained Serra.  
  
"Hey Serra, this is Sora. My girlfriend." Tai said, gesturing to Sora. Serra smiled and said "Pleased to meet you. Still the old stud that you used to be, eh Tai?" Sora was looking mutinous.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Tai, his attention shifting back to Serra (Sora scowled again) "well, good to see you again Serra, it's been so long. Hey, I wonder, where is." but he trailed off as he saw a figure walking forward, towards them. Sora turned and saw a boy with dark brown hair and sparking green eyes that reminded her of the grass blowing in the wind. He too was wearing the school uniform, but was just as tall as Serra, who came up to Sora's throat. He stopped right before Tai, and seemed slightly interested in him being there.  
  
"Hello Tai," he said placidly "hi sis." This comment was directed at Serra. His eyes darted to Sora.  
  
"Hello Sora." Then his eyes darted back to Tai, " Ten years right since I last saw you? But we met fifteen years ago." Before Sora had time to marvel at the fact that he knew her name, as she had never seen him, Tai replied "Yeah. You two haven't grown much since we met, have you?"  
  
They both shook their heads. "It must run in the family." Serra told him. "Hey remember when we." Tai was talking but he stopped by bursting out laughing. The boy and Serra did also.  
  
"What?" said Sora again, annoyed that they kept laughing and she didn't know why.  
  
"The memories, they keep flooding back, all those funny things we did. Blew up a car, don't remember why that was. It's funny in hindsight anyway. Climbed up a flagpole and hung a very stupid looking symbol from it, saying 'Shaddup you stupid cows, and stop following us' because some people kept stalking us and we made sure they could see it. Raided a guy's house cuz he swore at us in the street."  
  
"You did that from ages two to seven?" Sora asked. Andrew shook his head. For some reason he was looking embarrassed. "All that stuff happened when we were seven. We were bad boys." Tai laughed a little more. " Well Andrew, good to see you, and you Serra."  
  
Andrew and Serra were in some if Tai and Sora's classes, including gym, science, and math. Besides being absolutely brilliant with ways no one had ever seen to find equations, and also strange ways to create dangerous chemicals; they were extremely fit and agile. They were playing dodge ball today in gym, sand Andrew and Serra who happened to be on the opposite team of Tai and Sora, kept streaking around the gym floor and pelting people with balls. Their team won seven times in a row.  
  
At the end of the day, Sora was feeling very disdainful. She had tried to make Tai talk to her more and pay more attention to her the whole day, instead of Andrew and Serra, but to no avail. She scowled as a new thought struck her. Maybe Tai and Serra had been in love however many years ago. "Not like I have to worry about anything now. She's freaking tiny!" Sora growled to no one in particular. This didn't calm her. Suddenly Tai, Andrew, and Serra came bursting out of the front doors behind her, bellowing with laughter.  
  
"I remember his face so well. Illuminated by the fire of the smoking wreckage." Tai roared with laughter. "I don't think I'll ever forget that. The real miracle is that we didn't get caught. But then again it never was mentioned. How odd."  
  
"Um, Tai, can I have a moment please?" Sora punctuated into the cries of laughter.  
  
"Sure." Said Tai, still laughing slightly. She lead him away from the crowd of people coming out of the school and turned to face Tai.  
  
"Why are you paying so much attention to them?" Inquired Sora angrily. The smile faded from Tai's face. " Who? Serra and Andrew?" Sora nodded.  
  
"Oh, come on Sora, they're just good old friends. I haven't seen them for ten years. I don't mean to talk to them more than to you, but you know, ten years. Besides, we'll be talking a lot today in the Digital World."  
  
"Well," Sora commented, " Alright, but please try." They turned back to the front of the school and noticed Serra and Andrew walking around the corner of the school. Brow furrowed, Sora and Tai walked around and noticed something odd. There was no trace of the two they were following. There was no place they could have disappeared to.  
  
"Well, let's go to the Digital World." Said Tai.  
  
"Shouldn't we look for them?" asked Sora tentatively.  
  
"Nah." Said Tai. " If you know them it's something you have to get used to. They tend to disappear and reappear when you least expect it."  
  
Later, All of the Digidestined were sprawled out across a beach in the Digiworld, which looked odd to the strange plants of the forest next to the sea. Sora looked at Tai, Matt, Joe, Mimi, Izzy, TK, Kari, Jennifer, Sammy, and Lexx, who were all talking about what they did the last couple of days and about rumors both in the Real and Digital worlds. Sora reported about Serra and Andrew.  
  
" We already know," said TK, " at least I do. Ahhh, the beautiful brown haired Serra," he suddenly sounded dreamy, "and her brother...who is pretty cool." Kari rolled her eyes and smacked him upside the head.  
  
"They're both good friends of mine, from about fifteen years ago." Tai told them. Joe had just opened his mouth to say something when a voice called out from the forest behind them. Turning, Sora suddenly saw Andrew trudging through the plants to get to them.  
  
"Hello, how are you all today?" he said happily. He reached them and asked "Tea?" Before anyone, who was all slightly surprised to see him anyway, could answer he snapped his fingers and a tea tray with tons of little teacups and a pot full of Oolong Green Tea appeared on the ground. Everyone stared as he sat down and poured himself a cup. Andrew held out the teapot out to the Digi-destined and again asked " Tea?" They all accepted the cups and tea opened mouthed as he poured it out, but none drank the stuff, save Andrew. Tai finally broke the silence and asked " How did you get here. are you a Digidestined?" Andrew finished his first tea cup, and while he refilled the china glass again replied "Straight to business eh? I was hoping for time to chat. No, I'm not a Digidestined."  
  
"How did you get here," Asked Matt, sounding slightly suspicious, "and how did you make that." He pointed towards the tray, pot, and cups. " I'm a mage," answered Andrew. " I deal with matter, elements, energy, healing, destruction, and in my case, time magic."  
  
"Mage's don't exist," said Izzy " It's scientifically impossible." Andrew looked annoyed at Izzy, studied him for a moment, and then pointed at him. A spout of water flew up from the ground under him and he hovered, five feet in the air, the water holding him up. Andrew then let his hand lower, and Izzy was lowered to the ground gently. Izzy was scowling when he fell to the ground. " I still don't believe in that kind of stuff." He said stubbornly. " The Digiworld is unpredictable enough, and it could have been anything."  
  
Andrew smiled in the middle of a gulp of tea. " Believe what you want," Andrew replied happily, and he set the cup down as the whole set disappeared. "Anyway, I'm supposed to take you all to Rhune." Everyone scowled at these words. "Where?" they all said. Andrew smiled more broadly. " I'll show you. come on." He nodded towards the water and a large hand made completely of water came above the surface and stretched it's palm out.  
  
Andrew opened his mouth and was about to say something when someone came bursting out of the water and landed on the beach ten feet away. A second later a hunting horn called from the depths of the forest behind them. "John!" Andrew called in surprised. "What is it?" The boy had jet-black hair, and seemingly pure, gray eyes. " A crowd of dark seekers, and seemingly a Torm champion." Andrew, who didn't answer, looked petrified with fear. He yelled at the hand: "The Tides of the World take people more places then the tides of the world!" It sounded very contradictory, but a whirlpool formed around the hand and Andrew shouted to the Digidestined, " Go to the hand and say: Rhune. Then stand on it in turn." The Digidestined were stunned.  
  
"Buh buh why?" Asked Sammie. "Because when these guys get here they'll kill you easily. And calling your Digimon won't help." Replied the one called John. Tai's face hardened and he strode forward, shouted "Rhune!" then stood on the hand. It submerged deep into the world pool and Tai disappeared with it. Sora cried out sadly but Andrew called "He'll be fine!" Andrew pulled out a long shimmering sword and urged the companions onward. Matt, Joe, and Lexx had disappeared into the waters before the sound of hooves came from the Forest. "Go!" Bellowed the boy called John as he loaded a crossbow that he had pulled out of his jacket.  
  
" Who is that?" Inquired a voice. All of the Digidestined's Digimon had appeared in rookie form. "What's going on?" Asked Agumon. Andrew sighed. " Take them all!" he shouted to Sora as he pointed as the hand. It became larger and John shouted " All of you at once!" Sora was just striding forward as Andrew said " Too late." A huge black figure came bursting out of the forest.  
  
He was mounted on a black horse, which had red eyes, black armor, and a very evil looking spear. When he came out he thrust the spear at Andrew, who warded of the blow with his sword. " GO!" he shouted at them. The rest of the Digidestined shouted: Rhune! And seized their Digimon, then stood on the hand. It submerged, and Sora felt as if she were being sucked through the world. Down and down she went, until. SPLAT! She suddenly flopped out of a wall of water onto a soft carpet. A figure suddenly was standing in front of the Digidestined and the Digimon. "What a very stupid entrance you all made. Where's Andrew?" Said the voice of Serra reprovingly. She was wearing silvery white robes that shimmered slightly. Behind her was a room with tons of chairs and stairs behind them. Sora got up and, hiding her curiosity at Serra being there, explained to Serra, Tai, Matt, Joe, and Lexx what had happened. Serra looked terrified, and cried " Not HIM." She walked towards the wall of water where they had come from. But before she had reached the wall there was a loud splash, then Andrew and John came falling through the wall.  
  
"What happened?" She cried, her face ghastly white. "A Champion of Torm." Gasped Andrew. He looked as if he had just run full speed from one side of Tokyo to the other. John was gasping like Andrew, but not as heavily. He loaded up his crossbow, which he had apparently fired at the Champion of Torm. "That thing was nastier than usual. Andrew almost got stabbed by that spear again." Explained John. Serra gave a stifled cry. "I'm fine, he missed." Reported Andrew.  
  
"You be careful Andrew Windstalker." Said Serra, still biting her lip. " I've never seen one like it. I couldn't kill him with the Lance of Destiny, and that thing was the most powerful magical item I've ever seen." Andrew nodded grimly, but then turned to the Digidestined and their Digimon.  
  
"I think it's time we did some explaining." Andrew muttered, conspiratorially. "Sit down, sit down, I'll be right back." He called. Andrew left the room and they heard him thumping up the steps. Agumon groaned loudly. Everyone jumped except Serra, who pulled a flask out of her robes and took a swig of a yellow liquid.  
  
"What is it Agumon?" asked Tai.  
  
"I feel terrible." Groaned Agumon. The other Digimon murmured darkly in agreement. Before anyone said anything Andrew came down the stairs and into the room in silvery white robes. He took one look at the Digimon and blinked as if he had just noticed them. Then he chuckled.  
  
"Ah, shudda remembered."  
  
"What?" Asked Lexxy anxiously.  
  
"Should have remembered that your Digimon can't come out of the Digital World and into this world without being ill." Smiled Andrew. Mimi squealed unhappily.  
  
"Don't worry, we can help them." Andrew walked to the Digimon and looked into the nearest Digimon's (Gabumon) eyes. Gabumon looked away ruefully to Matt and asked, "Can I trust him?" Matt examined Andrew thoroughly then nodded. Gabumon looked back and let Andrew examine his eyes.  
  
"Amazing.simply amazing." He muttered. Sora was burning to know what was amazing, because something amazing to a Mage, she decided he was one now, must really be something extraordinary, but she held back. After a minute of studying Gabumon's eyes, Andrew announced that he was ill adapted to the conditions of this world (everyone scowled in puzzlement). Then he walked to another drawer and picked out a flask.  
  
"Essence of Rhune." The Essence of Rhune bottle was thin and small, with about a Liter of shining green liquid. He smiled, then walked over to Agumon, and poured a single drop down Agumon's throat. Agumon suddenly relaxed and turned less pale. Then he smiled a very toothy smile and said, " I feel great, even. even," "Magical?" Offered Andrew, smiling. "YES." Cried Agumon. Andrew distributed some the Essence of Rhune to all of the Digimon. They all seemed very happy when they had their drop of the stuff. When all of the Digimon had been remedied, Andrew turned to The Digidestined, and explained, "When they leave the Digital World, their strength comes from the World, as they were born there, they become weak and pale. Since your world and the Digital World are almost one in the same, they're okay if they go to your world. They would die in days if I let them. Since I gave them a drop of the Essence of Rhune, they became accustomed to the magic of this world." A very surprised pause followed this. Finally, Lexx asked, "What do you mean, 'This world'?" Andrew's smile grew, opened a door hidden in the shadows, and beckoned them to follow him. They had walked into a hall, lined with pictures of smiling Angels. There was a door made of cherry wood, which Andrew flung open and showed them.  
  
"It's beautiful." Mimi trailed off. There were plains of wheat, but not any the way they had seen it. Instead of slightly light brown, the wheat was pure gold, shimmering in the high noon sun. There were trees about five meters away, but the trunks were silvery, and the leaves of the pine needles were deep blood red, jade green, sparkling blue, rosy pink, and sun orange. Even though the sun was up in the sky at noon, they could see two moons, one an iron gray, and the other, a deep purple. "Welcome, welcome to Rhune, my world." 


	3. Weights and Worries

Disclaimer: How ya doin over there? Still don't own Digimon.  
  
Chapter 3: Weights and Worries  
  
Foreword: To let everyone know, considering either T.K./Kari(Takari) or Davis/Kari(Diakari) this will be.Neitherkari. That's right, neither will be coupled even though it may seem in some moments Takari and other Diakari, it will be officially unpaired. Thanks.  
  
Matt stared at the beautiful sights. It seemed too unbelievable to be real. He found his leg, still staring at the trees, fields and moons, and pinched. It hurt, which ruled out the possibility that he was having a dream. There was no possible way that they were on Earth or, though they had seen many strange scenes there, the Digital world. The pine needles were to natural to be painted, the wheat to pure to be fake. And something in the air, a smell like never before, told him this was a different world. Far away he saw a lake. The water was iron gray, but a strange blue mist hung over it. Andrew smiled at the astonished look at all of his guests' faces, including the Digimon.  
  
"Follow me." He called happily. They trooped across the golden wheat fields towards the waters of the lake. Matt felt the long feelers of wheat. They felt like they held a powerful energy in them, and hummed slightly in his hand. Wanting to ask a question, Matt hurried up to Andrew.  
  
"What are these things," he asked, gesturing towards the wheat. "They can't just be highly colored wheat." Tai smiled at Matt. "Sure they can." He chuckled, but Andrew said, "They're not." Tai stopped laughing. Everyone stopped in his or her tracks, including Andrew. "Pick one up, think and concentrate as hard as you can on something, and throw it at the ground." Matt pulled one out of the ground and balled in into his fist. It became warm and buttery in his hands.  
  
Matt cast his mind around for something, and it landed on the spout of water Andrew used on Izzy. Matt concentrated with all his might, and hurled the wheat at the ground. It no longer was wheat, but a golden light, which only was visible for a second. When the light touched the soil it disappeared, and a huge spout of water shot out of the ground, cracking the earth around it.  
  
Everyone cheered. Andrew laughed and looked mildly impressed. "Well, well, well." He chuckled happily. "I know about three hundred and ninety four people who are all now fully qualified mages, and it took them years to do that. That was a solid piece of magic, used to cast spells. You have real talent my friend." Matt tried not to look too pleased with himself. Everyone, especially Jennifer, clapped him and winked. They continued to walk towards the lake.  
  
When they reached it, Matt noticed that he could now see a rock in the middle of the lake through the blue mist. There was some magic wheat on the banks of the lake. Andrew flopped down in the shade of a tree and said, "Well, to business." He gestured to the Digimon and their Digidestined to sit down. They all did. Andrew peered around at them, giving them a piercing look in turn.  
  
"Now." he said mysteriously, "where shall I begin?" He looked thoughtful. Finally he sighed. "I guess the beginning will do."  
  
"Alright, here is how it goes. Everyone in Rhune knows this, so it seems fair that you should know it too. It's rather hard to explain, but it's true that every race, the smallest bacteria, to the greatest dragon, has a test. This test determines whither that that certain race has what it takes to live in the mortal planes. If they do, then no harm done, well maybe a little bit, but anyway they are allowed to live on their plane of existence. If they fail, then they die, the whole lot of them, and are sent to another plane, called the Time Cell. It's a place where they must figure out the task they were given, and must do it again and again, as a sort of torment. Eventually they will be given another place to try again, and again. I believe some examples, for you were the Dinosaurs, and the Dodo's. For us, the Cartis, a sorta water dwelling behemoth, and the Revoria, large flying armored warriors with no legs and seven arms with swords. Now," He looked very severely at the Digidestined, and there was no twinkle in his eyes, no smile. "Now is the time for humans to test their worth."  
  
Mimi gasped, Sora turned pale, and Tai said, "No, our race has existed long enough to be tested. right?"  
  
Andrew smiled grimly, "You would think so, right? There was once a thing, if you know, called the Bubonic Plague that was supposed to be the end of humanity. Since you passed it, then all said and done. However, something unexpected happened. Gaea, the earth goddess, was proud that her people survived, but Torm, the terrible of Chaos, said that it was an unfair test. He wanted another go, and after careful consideration, all gods and goddesses agreed that you, the humans of earth, would be tested again. And you, the Digidestined, will save the people of Earth. If you fail, then your race shall be destroyed, most likely forever."  
  
After this speech, the Digidestined stared blankly at him. Finally, Joe managed to speak up and say, "But why us?"  
  
"I believe that you managed to save your, and the Digital world, once before. Gaea has complete faith in you." At this, everyone spirits were uplifted, that a holy goddess had confidence in them, even though they were not sure if they really believed Andrew.  
  
"So what you're saying," Sammie finally said, "Is that if we fail, our families, friends, and anything we ever knew, will die." Andrew nodded solemnly, and there was pity in his gaze. "Therefore, some of the humans of Rhune have decided to help you in this struggle. I am one of them. Serra and John are the others. If we must die to save you, then so be it!" Everyone swallowed hard, for now, thought they were not sure why, they believed Andrew. Jennifer looked grim, and asked, "What must we do then, to save our people?" Andrew solemnly looked at her and answered, "I do not know, I have no answers right now. None except one. I know where we can find the answers. We must make to a place called 'Moradaria', or 'City of Knowledge'. If you want to save the human kind, then we must leave soon." All of the Digidestined looked as if they were told that they were being sent to the gallows.  
  
"Bu-bu- how?" Asked Joe, stuttering.  
  
"I told you that I have no answers. We must go soon, maybe tomorrow, or the day after. Either way, your time runs thin."  
  
"Why does our time run thin?" Asked TK bravely, though he was trembling all over.  
  
"You remember how there was the Dark Seekers, and the Champion of Torm that followed us. They were following you. Torm wants the human race dead. I don't know why, but he wants your race dead. If you die, then all humans are dead."  
  
"Do you know what our mission is?" Said Lexx.  
  
"No, I already said that, but again we must leave soon. Lets go back to the house and we may discuss this more later." The group got up and began to set back to the house. The whole discussion Matt had been fidgeting with some loose magic growing beside him. When they were told to get up, matt took the bunch of magic he held and threw it into the water. He wasn't really concentrating on anything, but when the magic left his hand the blue mist became a bubble and surrounded the golden magic. Then, suddenly a blue streak shot out of the water. It seemed to be a human, with a tail and blue skin. It was a long, cruel trident made of steel. It was a merfolk, male most likely looking at his strong arms. A pale green row of fins was bridged across his head. He looked at the magic in the magic bubble and said, "Hmmmm, well that is a fair gift, now for you to receive yours you must answer my riddle." Matt stared blankly at the merman. "What?" He asked tensely.  
  
"You must answer his riddle, and he will give you a reward." Said Andrew. "Give him something useful, Pheacix, we're on a journey." The merman suddenly noticed the rest of the party and said, "Andrew, how are you? It has been a long time since I've seen you. Do you still have it?" Andrew nodded and asked, "Can we help him?" Pheacix shook his head and turned to Matt. "Now listen, I will repeat the riddle if you want it, but only three times." The merman then recited:  
  
"Think of the people of clever disguise. They spend their time hiding as spies. When they are caught they can do naught but plead, For they are the incarnate of the sin of greed. Now what is the name of this person who has no dreams, He has no dreams, it seems, it seems."  
  
"Oh come on," cried Andrew, "That one is easy." "Even I know that one." Muttered Matt, then he said, "Thief!" Pheacix scowled and mumbled something in which the words "Next time" were distinguishable. Then he dived beneath the waters. For a moment it seemed as if he would not hold his end of the bargain up, but then he emerged out of the water with a sword-in-a-sheath. He threw it to Matt then dived beneath the waters again. Matt unsheathed the sword and looked at it. It shined pale blue and was cold to the touch. Andrew looked at it with great interest. Then he took it and examined the blade. "Quite remarkable," muttered Andrew, "this is a major magical artifact." Then he lifted it up and brought it swishing down to touch the ground. Where the point touched the ground became frozen. "This is the Cresindendo, or the Frost Bitten Blade. I always wondered where it had gone when John cast it away." Andrew gave it back to Matt and started back to the house. Jennifer beamed at Matt, who thought at least something had gone right today. 


	4. Last Night

Disclaimer: I realize this is going to get really old really fast, but I don't own digimon or any of its' characters.  
  
Chapter 4: Last Night  
  
As the Digidestined, Andrew, and the Digimon returned back to Andrew's house, Andrew showed Matt how to wield his blade. "I have a training Gym that you can use later." Joe looked at Andrew's house for the first time. It was painted white on the outside with green around the windows. It was probably about fifty feet tall and Joe could just see a garden in the back with a neat little sign poking out of the ground that said " The Garden of Eden, please mind the snakes."  
  
"We should go home soon, or your parents will get worried about you." Joe told the rest of the group. They all looked at him. Jennifer was looking skeptical. "We're about to go out and try and save the rest of the human race and you're worried that our parents will get a little worried." Everyone sniggered and Andrew agreed with her. "Besides, I had that taken care of. You're parents won't notice because I cast a spell so they wouldn't really care."  
  
When they got back inside they walked through the same door they had come out of to get to the hall. This door led to the living room, well that's what Joe guessed anyway. When they got inside it turned out to be the kitchen. Joe was confused. He hadn't seen any other doors in Andrew's house, but he was sure this should've been the living room. Andrew then looked inside an oven set into the wall.  
  
"Where does that door lead?" Asked Joe.  
  
"Anywhere I want it to." Replied Andrew. "In my house of course."  
  
Joe looked around and saw that the same staircase Andrew had went up when they had arrived was still there. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite of Andrew with a cauldron suspended on a hook. The staircase was on the wall opposite the door they had come in. Joe also noticed that the kitchen was small but they all fitted easily. The person called John was nowhere in sight.  
  
Right then Andrew pointed at the oven and the sound of something sizzling disappeared. Then he snapped his fingers and they all appeared in a dining room. There was a large oak table with twenty-five chairs circled around it. Joe noticed some chairs that were higher than others. After a moment Serra appeared out of nowhere. She smiled at them and said, "Andrew, you need to dress your friends." Andrew clapped his hand to his head and muttered, "Sorry I forgot." He snapped and they materialized in a different room. This room was furnished with green chairs, and white wallpaper with angels singing and dancing. There was a wardrobe to their left. Joe also noticed that the Digimon had not come along.  
  
"Everyone sit down except Tai." Andrew told them. All sat down except Tai, who was looking nervous. Andrew studied him for a moment and then waved his hand. Out of the wardrobe shot robes of dark brown. Andrew pointed at it and asked, "You like?" Tai looked at it and he seemed deeply relieved that this was all he had to do. "No." He said after a moment. "How about something more on the orange side." Andrew raised his eyes to the ceiling. He was obviously thinking. "How about.." He waved his hand again. The robes turned bright orange, the same color as his crest used to be.  
  
Tai nodded. Andrew nodded towards him and suddenly he was wearing the robes. His clothes had disappeared. Tai opened his mouth but Andrew already finished his question. "Your clothes are in your room. Yes you have rooms." Tai stared and then shut his mouth. The dressing process repeated until all of the Digidestined were dressed in robes of their choice. Matt was Icy Blue, Sora Deep Red, Izzy Jade Green, Joe Navy Blue, Mimi Shocking Pink, TK Bottle Green, Kari Pinkish-Purple, Jennifer Sky Blue, Lexx Deep Purple, and Sammie Banana Yellow. When they were all dressed Andrew teleported down to the dinner table. The Digimon had been waiting for them. John and Serra were both at the end of the table. The Digimon were seated on the seats higher up. There was Roast Pork, Sushi, Baked Potatoes, Rice, Roast Beef, Steak Marinated in Teriyaki Sauce, Roast Chicken, Chicken Marinated in Teriyaki Sauce, and basically any kind of food you could think of. Joe suddenly became aware of how hungry he was. All of the Digidestined sat down. Andrew told them to dig in, and Joe helped himself to Pork, Rice, Teriyaki Chicken and Steak. Also there was water, milk, tea, and any kind of drink you could think of. Everyone feasted on these delicious items, and even if they used to hate a food they enjoyed it now.  
  
Around mid-meal, a conversation was struck up. It had nothing to do with the coming tasks however.  
  
"Hey Tai, did you win your soccer game yesterday?" Asked Sora happily. Tai looked up and said, "Yeah, 3 to 1. I scored one goal."  
  
"Cool!" Said TK. "I won my basketball game yesterday too."  
  
"Cool." Put in Kari. "You're pretty good. Right Tai?" Tai, who had just taken a huge bite of pork looked up and mumbled something that wasn't distinguishable through the food. Everyone laughed including Andrew, John, Serra, and Tai who choked and quickly stopped. Joe just noticed how nice Andrew and Serra's voices sounded. They were like bells chiming in the morning breeze, and it brought peace to Joe's mind.  
  
When everyone had their share of food and drink and had talked him or herself horse, Andrew teleported each of them to their rooms one at a time. Their Digimon went with them this time. When Joe suddenly materialized in his own room(navy blue walls to match his robes)he saw a tank of water for Gommamon and a nice comfortable bed for himself.  
  
"Your wardrobe is right there. There should be anything you need in there. Goodnight!" He disappeared. Joe went into the closet and saw that it was filled with tons of different colored and different material pajamas. He chose one that was grayish and found near the bottom, matching slippers. He put his robes in there and changed. Joe laid down in bed, and lay there thinking to himself. How were they, the Digidestined and their Digimon, supposed to save their world when they didn't even know how to do it? Most of them hadn't even reached twenty yet! Slowly, still with worries on his mind, Joe drifted into an uneasy sleep. 


	5. Departure

Disclaimer: There are voices inside my head and they don't like you. They also like to see me suffer, so they force me to put up this disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or it's characters.  
  
Meanwhile somewhere where no one is looking:  
  
Andrew: Howdy doo, thanks to everyone (If anyone) who is reading my fic  
  
John: *walks in* hey Andrew look at this. No one has reviewed your fanfiction yet  
  
Andrew: Huh *scans report* hey you're right. All you people, please review my fic. It can't get better if I get no input.  
  
John: Thanks to anyone who's reading his fic. It's his first.  
  
Chapter 5:  
  
Departure  
  
  
  
The next morning Mimi woke up into a blaze of sunlight shining through her window. Her pink robes shimmered in the light. She got up and yawned. First her eyes darted down to the large pot of dirt that still held a flower sticking out of it, indicating that Palmon was in there.  
  
Next her eyes darted to the mirror on the far side of the wall, and saw her hair completely messed up. She walked over wondering if there was a comb in the cabinet. To her surprise, there was an assortment of hair sprays, combs, and hairbrushes. There was even a packet of stars for decorating her hair with. She began to brush her strawberry blonde hair.  
  
Then she sprayed it so it would stay in the same place. Finally she finished with some stars in her hair. When Mimi finished she went back into her wardrobe to get her robes from the other day. She supposed she would have to wash them somehow.  
  
Mimi opened the wardrobe and saw, to her astonishment, many dresses and gowns in an assortment of colors. She stared at the dresses.  
  
"Oh, I get it." She said thoughtfully. "It's designed to give whatever I'm thinking." A whicker shape on the wardrobe rearranged itself to make the word "Bingo". Mimi smiled.  
  
"Cool." She said. Then she closed it and asked it politely for some nice looking robes, as she had liked the fashion statement Andrew had come up with. There was a shuffling sound from inside and then the doors swung open. Mimi had been thinking of what a nice robe would be like, but she still gasped at what the wardrobe made. They were robes, of course in different materials and colors, but they were embodied with gold, or gems. They shone brightly and she noticed that the matching slippers at the bottom were also jewel studded. There were even tiaras at the top. Mimi chose pink robes and slippers studded with sapphires and blue diamonds. She also chose a gold tiara that had a single emerald in the center.  
  
Mimi was just shutting the wardrobe when suddenly a voice spoke from behind her. "Dear me, you're looking lovely today." Mimi spun around and saw Andrew's head in the mirror. He smiled at her and said, "good morning, would you like to take a bath? Lexx, Jennifer, Sammie, Sora, and Kari are already taking one. And no, I just showed up." Mimi had been looking slightly suspicious, but at his last words she smiled.  
  
"Good morning to you too Andrew, and yes I would like a bath thanks." Andrew nodded still smiling and said, "good, just say 'Andrew, room please' when you're done." Then he jerked his head.  
  
Mimi suddenly felt herself disappear and her clothes disappear also. She rematerialized above a large pool of water. It was actually quite beautiful, 50 ft by 50 ft with marble outsides, and a fountain of an angel spraying water out all over the place in the middle. She fell into the water with an almighty splash and a yelp of surprise. There was laughter from behind her. Mimi, who was under the water and saw it was about ten feet deep, kicked up to the top. He head broke the water and she turned around to see Sora, Sammie, Lexx, Jennifer, and Kari all in the water also. All around the pool of water there were little statues of all kinds of Capricorns with little knobs on them.  
  
"Hi Mimi," said Kari. "Nice entrance." Mimi ignored that last comment and said "Hello, isn't this a little deep for a bathing pool?"  
  
Lexx smiled, "Yes but the water near the bottom is denser, so it feels like you're standing on something hard." Mimi just noticed this and closed her mouth.  
  
"It must be enchanted," said Sammie. You wouldn't expect anything else in Andrew's house would you?" "Yeah." Agreed Sora and Mimi.  
  
Mimi began looking around for some kind of soap to wash her. Then she took a better look at the horns on the outside. She swam over to one with a strawberry carved into the horn and turned on one of the taps. At once a pinkish red liquid sprayed out of the horn. Mimi caught a splash of it and smelled it. It had a strawberry smell to it.  
  
"That's shampoo." Said Jennifer. "The ones on the left are shampoo, and the right ones are body soap."  
  
"How do you know that?" Asked Mimi as she washed her hair. Jennifer pointed towards a sign on the wall as she began with her own hair. It kept flashing different messages across it.  
  
Please no diving, Right tap, Soap, Left tap, shampoo, Ask the birds for anything else.  
  
Were just a few of it's messages. Mimi scowled at the third message.  
  
"What does it mean, 'Ask the birds'?" She asked. Suddenly a voice spoke.  
  
"Me!" it said. They all looked up past the walkway outside the pool. There were many fruit trees and palm trees. In the trees there were many multicolored birds. One of them was looking down at them.  
  
"Me!" It repeated. "If you want anything just ask me! Would you like some fresh fruit?" It picked up a grape vine and held it out for anyone.  
  
The female Digidestined continued washing themselves, while talking, and occasionally being fed fruit from the multicolored birds. Kari, who had obviously came first, finished first, said goodbye, and then called "Andrew, room please." She suddenly disappeared. Sammie scowled.  
  
"Ya know I wonder if he's watching us?" She thought out loud. "Oh well, Andrew, room please." She also disappeared. One by one they disappeared until finally Mimi was the only one left. She asked for one more fresh strawberry from a bird, caught it in her mouth and said, "Andrew, room please."  
  
Mimi materialized back in her room with a towel around her. She dried herself off, fixed her hair again, and changed back into her attire she had chosen before Andrew had teleported her into the bath. That's when she noticed a note on the wall. Mimi looked at it intently. It read, "Mimi, to get anywhere you want to go in my house, just stand under that rope, say where you want to go, and pull. Andrew. P.S. Breakfast is at10:30." Mimi glanced at the clock. It was 9:30 now. She decided to go to Andrew's living room. She stood under the rope, said "Living room." And pulled.  
  
She wished Andrew had warned her about what would happen if she did. The floor disappeared under her. She fell through down right into the middle of Andrew's living room. She stood stunned there for a minute, then she looked up at the ceiling. It was just a ceiling. Then Mimi looked back around the room. It was exactly how she remembered it. There was a small table on one side of the room next to the wall they had come out of before, but the rest of it was covered in chairs and couches. They had been too surprised to actually sit down in the chairs the time they had come. There was only one occupant in one of those chairs. It was Serra. She smiled at Mimi and said,  
  
"Have a seat, dear. By the way, you're looking splendid in those robes." Mimi also smiled and sat down.  
  
Neither of them spoke for a while, until finally Serra said, "Would you like something to entertain you until breakfast?" Mimi was about to reply yes, when suddenly a thought struck her.  
  
"No," she replied. "I'd like to learn how you teleport me from place to place so I can do it myself." Serra smiled.  
  
"So you want to learn magic eh? Well I suppose I could teach you how to do a simple spell or two in one hour. But first I'd like to know what kind of magic you'd like to learn." Mimi looked surprised. There were different kinds of magics? Well, she really didn't want to learn destruction magic. She cast her mind about for a magic Andrew had mentioned and she suddenly remembered something.  
  
"How about healing first?" She asked. The others smile broadened and she nodded. Mimi felt her body disappear and reappear outside next to the fields of wheat. She scowled. "Then that."  
  
Serra laughed her sweet laugh.  
  
"Okay, first we'll start with wheat-magic. It'll be a while before you can draw the power from inside of yourself." She then took a knife out of her pocket and cut herself on the top of her hand. A little trickle of blood poured out of it. Then she took a piece of wheat-magic and threw it on her hand.  
  
"Concentrate hard on the cut disappearing and the cut healing as hard as you can." Serra instructed. The golden magic flew down onto the cut, which suddenly disappeared. There was still a little drizzle of blood on her hand though.  
  
Serra cut herself again while saying, "You try." Mimi looked at the cut on Serra's hand then took a piece of magic. It suddenly became warm and buttery in her hands. Mimi closed her eyes and concentrated on the cut healing. Then she hastily threw it onto Serra's hand. Nothing happened.  
  
"Don't worry about the cut for right now. Sometime in the future you may need to go speedily, but now just take your time." Serra told her. Mimi took another piece of magic and concentrated hard. She took about a minute of focusing harder then she ever had before in her life on the wound recovering, then slowly the dropped it onto Serra's hand. The wound mostly disappeared. There was only a small scab left. It was actually smaller then the original cut.  
  
Serra smiled at her and said "good job. You Digidestined catch on quickly." Mimi looked very happy.  
  
"Now," Serra suddenly sat down and motioned Mimi to do the same on a tablecloth that had appeared out of nowhere. "It is time to learn about magic's intricate design." Mimi sat down on the tablecloth and look interestedly at Serra.  
  
"What you must do is sit and mediate. This will take about twenty minutes to do. You must clear your mind of other thoughts and just focus on the power of magic. You felt that power in you hands when you felt the magic?" Mimi nodded.  
  
"If you are lucky, you may feel the true power of magic." With that Serra shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to meditate. Mimi looked at Serra for a moment, then followed suit. She relaxed for about five minutes, then suddenly realized she was trying to concentrate too hard on relaxing. Mimi again began to try to clear her mind. She pushed all of the thoughts to the outside of her mind and just focused on magic. She focused on magic with all of her mind. After about fifteen minutes however, she felt something. A flash of power, of energy. She realized that it was the energy that was called magic. She focused again. There it was again, the flash of magic. Mimi focused one more time and felt the magic again, but this time she tried to hold onto it. When she tried this, something miraculous happened.  
  
Mimi felt as if she had just been plunged into a grid of golden light. There were lines all around her of golden color that crossed, and connected each other into a pattern of golden light. Mimi saw how to move the pattern just slightly so that the golden light would flow through her too. With even trying to, she did it. The golden energy flowed through her, and into her very being. She felt as though a great balloon was swelling up inside her heart. She suddenly became warm. Her eyes snapped open, and saw that she was engulfed in an egg of the wheat magic.  
  
"Serra?" Serra opened her eyes and looked at Mimi.  
  
"Impressive." She said. "You have actually learned how to channel the magic to flow through yourself instead of pulling it out of the world around you. If you don't become too blocked off from the world, you should be able to channel magic at will. I believe you are actually the first person who has ever done that his or her first day. Congratulations."  
  
Mimi looked as the golden light around her faded into her body. Suddenly a ball of light flew out towards them. There was a voice from in front of them, as if it spoke from the ball of light. Mimi recognized the voice as that of the person called John.  
  
"We got trouble." He said.  
  
Mimi and Serra appeared in a room that they had not been in before. There was nothing there, just white painted walls. So far the only ones there were the two that had just appeared, Andrew, and John. Mimi looked at the black haired boy, and was slightly surprised to see him floating in mid- air as though he were on a chair. He looked as if he were pushing buttons on a computer. Every time his fingers would strike a key, a different colored light would appear. In front of him, there was a screen that kept lighting up and flashing. Only where the glass part was visible though.  
  
"Would you like a chair Mimi?" Asked Serra. She didn't even bother to wait for an answer, she just pointed near the wall with two fingers, and then dragged her fingers to point under Mimi. Suddenly Mimi felt herself being forced into the air. Then she was settled hovering a few feet above the ground. Serra floated over towards John and stood floating in air just like Andrew.  
  
Meanwhile, John was talking very fast to Andrew. "About an hour ago I monitored a temporal shift in the cosmosis barrier that we set up. There was an incredible flare of dark magic. I've been trying to locate the source of the energy. So far I've been unsuccessful. Right now I'm brining up a map of the surrounding area and from there I'll attempt to find the enemy." Andrew stared hard at the map that had appeared.  
  
"It's masking itself very well from our scanners if we haven't found it yet. Bring up a sensor reading of any life forms in the area." Mimi, who was still floating was trying very hard to ignore what they were saying as so she wouldn't be confused. Instead, she concentrated on trying to move the chair. Suddenly, it went forward about a foot. Mimi concentrated again and again until she got the hang of moving the invisible chair. Then she moved up to the map. The sensor scan had finally finished. There must have been about one thousand little dots on that screen.  
  
"How do we identify it?" Andrew asked.  
  
"I'm working on that." Said John. He looked thoughtful, and then he said, "We may have to manually search these things. But that might take too long if I'm correct in thinking what they're after."  
  
Serra nodded and said, "The Digidestined." Mimi looked nothing short of petrified.  
  
"Don't worry, as long as you're with us, you're safe." Explained Serra. Mimi looked slightly less pale. Right then John said, "Wait, I'm getting something." They all looked intently at the map. There was a rapidly growing black blotch on the screen. It seemed to be about fifty feet away from the house. John was suddenly tapping keys like mad. He hit a button that was probably "Enter". Suddenly in the middle of the room, there was a flicker of light.  
  
The, what seemed to be screen, flickered and blinked. Then something appeared in the middle of it. A black figure mounted on a black horse, and about ten people surrounding him. They all had black hair, blood red eyes and wicked looking swords. Mimi could just see bows on their backs.  
  
"Shit." Said John. It was the first time he had ever swore in front of Mimi. "It's the same crowd of seekers and the champion again.  
  
"Shit." Muttered Andrew and Serra. "Can you pinpoint their location?" John began to madly tap keys again. "Forty feat from the house and closing fast." Andrew suddenly turned around towards Mimi.  
  
"Could you gather the other Digidestined and meet us outside. There you'll be able to escape if you need to get away quickly." Mimi nodded but asked, "How should I get to them. I don't know where they are and your house is big enough." Andrew was checking to see if he had everything.  
  
"Do the thing I told you to do earlier, but say their name." Andrew explained. She nodded, walked over to a rope lever that had been hidden in a dark corner. She stood under it, said, "Tai." And pulled.  
  
Five minutes later the Digidestined and their Digimon materialized right out front of Andrew's house. Immediately they saw the three owners of the house standing about twenty feet in front of them. Andrew was just wrenching his sword out of one of the little ones stomach. Serra was stabbing at the guy on the horse with a lance that glowed silver. John was reloading his crossbow, but Mimi saw that about half of the ones down had crossbow bolts sticking out of them. The Digimon saw at once what was happening and digivolved to their Ultimate of Mega forms.  
  
"Agumon warp digivolve to. WARGREYMON!"  
  
"Gabumon warp digivolve to. METALGARURUMON!"  
  
"Tentomon digivolve to. KABUTERIMON! Kabuterimon Digivolve to. MEGAKABUTERIMON!" And so on until finally,  
  
"Foximon digivolve to. GLORYMON! Glorymon digivolve to. POLARGLORYMON!"  
  
"Cunomon digivolve to. SARTOMON! Sartomon digivolve to DRACOSARTOMON!"  
  
"Foxmon digivolve to. VIXINMON! Vixinmon digivolve to. FIREVIXINMON!" Then they charged forward and attacked. There were only four of the black haired ones left, and then there was the man on the horse who was currently warding of blows from all the humans. At first it seemed as if the Digimon would have no problems beating the smaller ones. But that was because they were surprised to see them. By the time the first one was killed the Digimon, including the Megas were already tired. Their opponents didn't seem to be getting tired though. It took about fifteen more minutes before only the Megas and the final human was there. Then, what they had heard Andrew call a 'Dark Seeker' take out a potion. He drank the potion in one gulp but seemed to be waiting for something.  
  
The Digimon took this time to recover. Suddenly the Dark Seeker held out his hand and blasted a huge fireball at them. They were too tired to dodge out of the way in time. The Digimon were knocked back and reverted to their in-training states. Tai and Matt ran up to their partners.  
  
"Hang in there Koromon." Assured Tai.  
  
"I'll get him for this Tsunomon." Matt told his Digimon. The Dark Seeker was slightly bent over. There was some electricity swirling around him, but then his muscles grew and expanded. He roared evilly.  
  
"He grew stronger because he defeated our Digimon, how is that possible?" Asked Izzy. The dark seeker looked up, fixing Izzy with his red eyes. "When you die, you'll find out." He snarled. Mimi saw Matt stand up abruptly. He unsheathed his sword, the Frost Bitten Blade. Mimi knew that he had been working on his swordsmanship all day, before he had taken a bath. He was pretty good, but Mimi seriously doubted that he could take this super- concentrated freak.  
  
"Bring it on." Matt yelled at him.  
  
"Matt, don't do it." Cried Jennifer. "He'll kill you."  
  
"I can handle this." Matt reassured her. Then he charged at the dark seeker, sword upraised.  
  
The man was smiling a very nasty smile. When Matt brought his sword swishing down he parried it. Then he raised his own sword and brought in down in a chop aimed at Matt's head. Matt brought his sword quickly up to block it. When both swords connected, Matt was smashed backwards about five feet. The man's smile widened even more nastily. His strength was increased ten fold. Then he charged and went into a frenzy of blows, most of which were blocked or parried by Matt. Once or twice however, a cut got through his defense and a splatter of blood would spray on the ground. Right now there was a cut on his face, arms, legs, and even his chest. Matt was breathing very hard.  
  
"MATT, GET OUT OF THERE, HE'S KILLING YOU!!!" Screamed Jennifer in the middle of tears. Mimi meanwhile, was looking at some wheat magic. She knew what she must do. Now if the time was any, to use her newfound power. She wasn't sure if she could control it. She took one last look at Andrew, Serra, and John, who were still fighting the mounted figure (all of them, even the Champion of Torm were looking winded), and then took a piece of wheat magic. She felt a reaction to the magic inside of her now. She held the stuff close to her heart, closed her eyes, and began to concentrate with all her might on healing Matt, completely, even his stamina. She focused so hard that she somehow felt herself begin to glow.  
  
"Mimi, what the." She heard Tai say in a confused sort of way. She couldn't let this distract her. When she was sure beyond sure that the Magic had taken the form she had wanted it to, she opened her eyes. Matt was standing a foot away from the dark figure, completely winded. The Dark Seeker was standing tall and mighty over him, about to finish him off. Mimi hurled the piece of magic at Matt. She didn't even see it go, it just was suddenly around Matt. The Dark Seeker moved back a couple feet in surprise.  
  
"What the?" He exclaimed. Suddenly there was a blue light inside Matt. He stood tall and the light disappeared.  
  
"Get him Matt!" Everyone yelled. He grinned and raised his sword over his head. Then he plunged it into the earth in front of him.  
  
"What's he doing?" Asked TK. Everyone stared at Matt. Suddenly the ground in front of Matt froze. It looked as if the ice was going right under the Dark Seeker. When it was under him it suddenly shot up, freezing him up to the waist. He screamed. Matt wrenched his sword out of the ground, took one last step towards the man, and slashed him across the chest. There was an instant of blood spurting, and then his cut became ice. The Dark Seeker was dead. Everyone stared at Matt then screamed in happiness.  
  
"You did it!" Yelled Jennifer as she ran at him with tears running down her face. "You beat that bastard!" Matt caught her up in his arms and embraced her. They hugged for about a minute, but then when they let go, Matt said, "It was because of Mimi. She used magic to heal me." He turned towards her.  
  
"How did you do that?" He asked her. Mimi smiled and just muttered, "Just a little something that Serra taught me." Then she held her hands to her heart. This time she reached inside herself for the power she had managed to channel earlier. She began to glow with a soft golden light.  
  
"Oh my." She heard Kari gasp. Mimi let the light fade. Then she looked up and glanced back to Andrew, Serra, and John. They were of course, still fighting. John and Serra seemed to be hanging back and resting. Andrew was floating in the air, darting out of the way of attacks. The sky had turned darker for some reason. Mimi didn't yell to them, she just ran up to them.  
  
"What's going on?" She asked Serra. Serra had blood all over her she looked a real mess. One of her eyes seemed to be jammed shut. There was one long cut up from her leg to her chin. She was still holding the lance in her hands, but it was almost limp.  
  
"What does it look like, we're fighting. Well, Andrew still is anyway." She answered. Right then Andrew dodged a swipe at him with a spear in midair, and slashed at his attackers' open belly. The Champion of Torm screamed as the sword rammed into his gut. Black blood spilled out of him. He felt himself and let out a fresh howl. White power was running up the blade of Andrews' sword. He let out a smirk, and then slashed at him. He was too far away to actually hit him, but then a white blast shot out of his sword. It smacked into the side of his opponents horse. There was suddenly a huge explosion. When the smoke had cleared, there was nothing left, nothing. Not even his armor or even his spear was left. Andrew let out a sigh of relief. He turned back to the others and muttered in an exasperated kind of way, "Breakfast anyone?" Everyone looked amazed. But they slowly nodded. Andrew snapped his fingers.  
  
Mimi materialized in her room after breakfast. She looked in the cabinet that the hair stuff had been in, wondering if there were any toothbrushes she missed. To her (little) surprise, there was an assortment of toothbrushes, toothpastes, and dental flosses in there this time. She shrugged and figured she should've known better. When she closed it and turned around, there was a sink right in front of her. I love this room! She thought.  
  
When she had finished brushing her teeth she took the trapdoor express (that's what Mimi called the rope that was used to teleport all over Andrews' house.) into Andrews' living room. Andrew must not be ready yet because he wasn't there. He had told them to meet him there. There was only one occupant of those chairs. It was Serra. She smiled at Mimi and told her, "Take a seat dear, and by the way you're looking splendid in those robes." Mimi laughed out loud. She did take a seat. Serra began the conversation. "So, I heard you saved one of your friends by healing him. You used the spell I taught you." Mimi nodded, and Serra gave her a look. The look plainly said, "Good job, I'm proud of you!"  
  
"But, I have a feeling inside of me. I've rarely felt this feeling ever before. What is it?" Asked Mimi. Serra smiled again, and explained, "You have this feeling because you did something. You saved your friend in order for him to defeat a powerful evil. You achieved an ability that few have the skills cut to do. You did it by yourself. That gains you a feeling that feels like a happy balloon inside of you. Do you know what this feeling is?" Mimi shook her head. She for some reason expected her to say love, but it was, "Pride." Mimi stared and was just about to say something when Matt materialized in the middle of the room and ended their conversation.  
  
Matt strode over to the seats they were occupying and plopped down. He leaned in towards Mimi and muttered, "Thanks." Mimi felt herself blushing. Right then Tai appeared in the middle of the room. He looked a bit dazed.  
  
"Isn't there any other way to get around your house? Does this place even have doors?" He asked Serra.  
  
"Not besides the two. And they automatically close after you walk through them. So you have to use the rope." Replied Serra. "And you might want to get out of the way."  
  
"Why?" He asked as he stepped away from the middle of the room. He wasn't quick enough. Sora had obviously taken the trapdoor express to get there right then. There was a crash then a yelp of pain.  
  
"Oops." Muttered Serra. "I wasn't quick enough." Mimi and Matt laughed as Sora and Tai tried to disentangle themselves. It didn't work, so Sora began to bellow herself horse at Tai, which made Matt and Mimi laugh even more. To add to the confusion, there was a pop and suddenly Lexx was standing on top of the wriggling Sora and Tai. She didn't even lose her balance as Tai gave a yelp of surprise and tried to buck her off. She just hopped off, looked behind her, and sighed, "Get a room you two. seriously." Lexx got down and helped disentangle the two. When they got up, Lexx said, "Honestly, we're about to embark of a journey to save our people, and you two are worried about your sex life! For crying out loud!" Sora looked like she was ready to explode. Matt quickly attempted to change the subject.  
  
"So are we leaving now?" He asked Lexx.  
  
Lexx walked away from the couple and towards Serra.  
  
"Yes, at least that's what Andrew said. As soon as everyone is together, we'll go." She sat down in a seat that had pulled itself into existence by Serra's will at that very moment. Sora and Tai walked over and stood next to each other. They were about to sit on the floor, when a chair appeared behind them too. They both sat down, but Tai was quicker. Sora ended up on his lap. He went brick red and Sora got annoyed. She was probably about to freak out on Tai again when the seat suddenly lengthened itself into a love seat. Tai moved Sora next to him, and put his arm around her. She looked awkward, but then smiled, and let her head rest on Tai's shoulder.  
  
"I love you Tai." Sora muttered.  
  
"I love you too Sora, no matter what." He replied. Her smile deepened. Mimi looked at Serra. "Do you know about love? Have you ever been in love? But I suppose you're a bit young to have had a love." Mimi muttered looking at her young preference. She had to be only thirteen. Serra scowled at Mimi, but then smiled.  
  
"Oh of course. No, you think I'm thirteen years old, when in fact I'm closer to thirteen hundred years old. I could find out exactly how old I am, but that would take a while." Mimi stared. "But how could you survive, you look like you're thirteen." Serra smiled and said, "Our magic has changed our appearance as sort of a side affect. And our age, hmmm, I won't tell you, no offense, but someday you'll understand." Mimi nodded but was still confused.  
  
"Besides," chimed in Matt. "You cannot love someone for who they look like. You must love someone for who they are on the inside." "Here, here." Whispered a voice. Everyone looked at the center of the room, including Sora and Tai, and saw Jennifer. She walked over towards Matt in the chair that had suddenly become a love seat. She sat down beside Matt, who smiled at her. She looked at Serra, and mouthed,  
  
"You're really good." Then she stared into Matt's eyes. He stared back. She suddenly pulled him into a tight kiss. Mimi looked away, not wanting to be rude, but the grin on her face was set. Instead she began the conversation she had had with Serra. "So have you ever loved anyone?" She asked. Serra looked thoughtful. "Yes." She finally admitted. "There was a person. His name was Lucas. He had to have been the kindest, most generous person I've ever met. He was so handsome."  
  
"What happened to him?" Inquired Mimi.  
  
"Nothing." She replied.  
  
"So, he's still alive?"  
  
"Sort of. He's in stasis. That's what I mean by nothing. Torm took him and froze him, so all of his bodily functions had suddenly been frozen as so he would never be free, but still alive. It's a kind of torture." Her face hardened. "You have no love Mimi, at the moment anyway. Let me give you one piece of advice. When you give your heart to someone, know whom you're giving your heart to. I knew what I was doing. But Torm interfered. I've lost the one I love. You have no idea what it's like to lose a person you loved with all your heart. It's terrible." It took a moment for Mimi to notice that Serra was chocking back tears.  
  
"I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories Serra." Mimi apologized. "Nonsense, you had no idea. But you can see how bad it must be." Mimi nodded, and Serra suddenly became her usual, cheerful self. Mimi took a moment to see if anyone was watching them. Both couples were too lip locked to notice the conversation that had just gone on. Lexx had been listening in, but she just winked at Mimi and turned away.  
  
Slowly the room filled as Digidestined and eventually their Digimon appeared in the middle of the room. When Izzy showed up, the chair Lexx had been sitting in became a couch. Mimi had the strangest idea that Serra could read minds. Lexx asked Izzy to sit down next to her. He looked surprised but didn't get a chance to answer as Lexx had suddenly pulled him down next to him and put his arm around her. Then she had an excuse to put her head on his shoulder. He was looking very awkward, but he didn't seem to mind at all.  
  
Last to appear was Andrew. Serra and Mimi had been talking about badgers and their strange ways ("The whole lot of them are paranoid I tell ya!" Said Serra) when he suddenly was in the middle of the room. John who had appeared only an instant earlier had to dodge out of the way. Everyone fell silent as he stepped towards the Digidestined. He waved and suddenly a map appeared in the middle of the room. The windows were suddenly blackened as so they could see. The map was of a very thick continent that eventually narrowed up into a peninsula. There were a couple islands here and there, and in the middle of the continent was a green dot. On the end of the peninsula was a red dot.  
  
"We are here." Explained Andrew, pointing towards the green dot.  
  
"This is our destination." Continued John, gesturing towards the red dot.  
  
"To get there, we are going to take the shortest route possible, a straight line, towards the temple." Andrew told them. His finger went from some fields, to a lake, on towards a large mountain surrounded by a desert, through a forest, to an even bigger mountain, and finally onto the peninsula. Between these landscapes was obviously just grass or fields. "The distance," John grinned. "Three hundred and forty two miles." Everyone stared at him. They had learned conversions between miles and kilometers in school, and they knew that that was one long distance they had to walk. "Therefore," Andrew said into the silence, "We'll be getting something to ride on before we go." Mimi prepared herself and Andrew raised his fingers and snapped them.  
  
They suddenly materialized in a paddock full of creatures. The first thing Mimi noticed was that her clothes had changed from her elegant robes and tiara, to traveling clothes. In the paddock was an assortment of creatures.  
  
Horses of course, but there were also other things. Horse like creatures that were pure white and long antlers sticking out of their heads. There was giant rats, giant warthogs, goats, dinosaur looking things, and even a giant snake or two. Andrew walked around; he seemed to be looking for something. Andrew told them, " Pick one." Mimi looked around. There wasn't much in here that she would really want to ride. There was another paddock about fifty feet away, and Mimi could see Unicorns, and Bicorn, but there was a sign hung on the fence that said, "Untamable".  
  
Mimi turned back around and saw Andrew hop onto one of the horse-like creatures with antlers. He whispered in its ear. It snorted and said in a deep voice, "I could run the Canyon of Fallout and come out without a bead of sweat." Everyone stared and Andrew replied, "I know." Then he noticed everyone staring at him. "This is a Stag." He told them. "A powerful magical beast that can speak English. Cool huh?" Everyone still stared.  
  
Fifteen minutes later everyone had something to ride. Andrew was of course riding the Stag. He called it Eldar the White. Tai was riding a horse, Matt a dinosaur looking thing called an Uryasaur, Izzy a horse, Sora had a horse, Mimi was a Uryasaur, TK a Stag, Kari a Stag, Jennifer a horse, Sammie a Stag, and Lexx a horse. They all rode off to begin their adventure. They didn't have food or extra clothing, but John had assured them that there was enough food in the wild for all twenty-five of them, including the Digimon. Their clothes were enchanted ("I should've known." Said Kari") as so they would self-wash themselves of fix minor tears. The Digimon had all reverted back to in-training and were riding their respective partners horse, Stag, or Uryasaur. Mimi looked around.  
  
They were going to save the world, again, but right now it felt like they were just camping. If it was such a tough task, why weren't they flying there? Or perhaps they could just teleport with Andrew's magic. She sped up to talk with him.  
  
"Why are we taking a ground path? I saw some griffins in one of those paddocks of yours. Couldn't we just fly to the temple? Or teleport?" She demanded. Andrew gave a wry smile.  
  
"Because our enemies don't underestimate us. Getting there on a land route will be hard enough. Getting there on an air route is impossible. Torm's followers are guarding the skies like wrathful eagles. And to be able to teleport there is near impossible. There happens to be a magic ward. A magic ward will push anyone who tries to teleport within one hundred miles of the temple, who is trying to get to the temple back. To break that magic ward would take more power than you can begin to imagine, and more than I can hope to harness." He replied. Mimi looked surprised. But she recovered herself to say,  
  
"Well why not teleport right outside those miles, and then we could take the land path." Now there was no trace of a smile on his face. He answered in a serious voice, "Because that's what our enemies expect of us." And so they rode off, into the brink. Full of strange creatures and twisted destines in order the save the human race. 


	6. The Lake

Disclaimer: Some people can see dead people. Other can see dead people. Can you see dead disclaimers? Let's check: I don't own Digimon or anything they created. Can you see it? I guess not then.  
  
Chapter 6: The Lake  
  
And so, our journey into save humanity begins, though Izzy. He had gotten off of his horse because they were taking a break. They had reached the lake that Andrew had pointed out on the map. The group had only been traveling about four hours, but so far, nothing to worry about.  
  
Izzy sat down on the bank of the lake. Its cool water was quite placid at the moment. He could see some froglike creatures on the other side hopping at each other and trying to slash each other with horns protruding from their heads. Suddenly Matt sat down next to Izzy. He looked troubled, but said in a meek voice, "Yo."  
  
Izzy replied happily, "Hey Matt, how's it been? I'd just like to congratulate you again on that great victory over the Dark Seeker earlier this morning. You were really something."  
  
Matt looked even more troubled. He looked away from Izzy, out towards the rest of them who were talking in a relaxed sort of way.  
  
"What's wrong Matt?" Izzy asked. Matt didn't answer at first. He simply looked pensive. Finally he muttered, "I can't believe I did it."  
  
Izzy looked confused. "Did what?" He asked. Once again Matt didn't answer right away. After about half a minute, he replied in the same pensive voice, "I killed him. It felt different with the Digimon, but this." Matt's voice rose to a shout, "I killed flesh and blood! I killed him!" A bunch of the frogs hopped into the pond. Even the other group members looked surprised. They didn't come over, probably because they knew Matt was all right.  
  
Izzy turned back to Matt, and gave him a reassuring look. "Don't worry about that. You were dealing with something pure evil. You had to do that, otherwise we'd all be dead." Matt looked confused and Izzy continued, "Yeah. Andrew told me confidentially that if he'd killed you, then he would've become ten times stronger, and killed us easily. Then where would our race be?"  
  
Izzy lifted his throat and swiftly drew his finger across it. He then stood up and put his hand on Matt's shoulder. "Try not to brood on it." Izzy told him as he walked away. Matt still didn't look convinced.  
  
Five minutes later everyone was gathering some kind of food. They had all decided to have lunch at the lake, because everyone was starting to get hungry. From here they would proceed straight north, towards the tall mountain in the distance. Izzy was catching fish. John had assured him that the fish in this lake were not poisonous or eating them would result in any kind of strange consequences. Suddenly there was a tugging on his line. Izzy jerked up with his rod, and reeled in. He had a fish that was bright green and about as long as a board. It flopped around as he held it in his hands, and then threw it into a small tub of water. Serra had created the stuff for him out of thin air a couple of minutes beforehand.  
  
Izzy was just rebating when he noticed that Matt was still sitting like a statue at the lake's bank only feet away. Izzy looked solemn. Killing that guy must have hit Matt harder than I thought. Izzy thought. Perhaps I'll speak with the others about this. They'll cheer him up.  
  
When lunch was finally cooked, Tai was sent over to get Matt. They came back with Matt still having that tortured expression on his face. Everyone was feasting on fish, berries, and some strange herbs that John had dug up.  
  
"Hey Serra." Called Tai. "Why don't you just create food out of magic? I know you could do it." Serra smiled and replied, "If one relies on magic to do everything for him, then he will never truly grow and learn. He will become lazy, and weak." Tai had a look set on his face that plainly said, "Why didn't I see that coming?"  
  
John continued the conversation track of magic. "Someone wondered why we couldn't just teleport directly to the temple. The answer is not simply that Torm and his followers are guarding the parameters, it's that if we did teleport you, it would be guaranteed that you would fail." They all looked confused. John elaborated, "Yeah, for some reason, if the chosen race uses any teleportation spell or spell that would speed up the process of getting places they need to go in the task, they fail. No one knows why, but the guess is that if you teleport, then you don't learn the necessary lessons one needs to know in order to succeed."  
  
At that moment Andrew suddenly jerked up from taking a bite out of his fish. He looked alert and wary. Everyone looked at him and Lexx asked, "What is it?" He didn't answer at first. He simply just used some power to float up in the air in a standing position. He was looking around for something. Everyone was silent. There was a faint sliding sound over leaves. Andrew's head swiveled in its direction.  
  
"SHOW YOURSELF!" He cried. There was a black shape in the direction Andrew had shouted. It suddenly disappeared. Andrew was looking startled. He put his hand into a pocket of the riding outfit he was wearing and took out a pair of goggles. He slapped them on, and looked again. After about a minute, he lowered to the ground and took off the goggles. They returned to his pocket as he said, "I felt something. A strange presence. More than a little bit dark. A different signal from the one coming from that small forest over there."  
  
"What do you think it was?" Asked Izzy. "And what is in that forest over there." He pointed to a small clump of trees about fifty feet away.  
  
"As for what that thing was, I'm not sure, but the magic signal from those trees is unmistakable. A magical axe. Flamebroad is what is it's called. You might want to pick it up before we leave."  
  
They finished lunch feeling a little edgy, slightly afraid of the thing that had interrupted their lunch. If it was something that could put Andrew instantly on guard, then it was probably something to be reckoned with. When they had finished everyone except Izzy, Matt, Andrew, Serra, and John walked over towards the patch of forest. Izzy just wanted to talk to Andrew. Matt didn't say anything. The mages told everyone that they had enough magical items amongst themselves to last a lifetime. Izzy moved towards Andrew and told him, "Matt's been really feeling down lately."  
  
All three of the mages nodded, and John said, "Yeah. I wonder why he's so depressed for killing something so evil." Serra continued, "He should be proud of his achievement." "I was wondering if you guys would talk to him for me." Said Izzy. "Well, let's have us a look at the poor fellow." Serra stood up. She immediately turned the color of porridge. The others were sharing her look. They leapt into the air. "Matt, RUN!" They screamed at him. He got up quickly, but not quickly enough. Something black splashed out of the lake. It had long black tentacles, a pointed face and yellow eyes. In one wild moment, Izzy realized that that is all it was. It quickly wrapped its tentacles around Matt's neck and began to strangle him. A black wave of power rushed out of it when it had securely fastened itself.  
  
"Shit." Cursed John. Before the blackness hit Izzy, he saw that there were white shields around the others. Suddenly there was a blinding pain surrounding Izzy. It wasn't just around him it was in his very mind, his very heart. From far away, he heard Serra's voice.  
  
"Get the other Digidestined!" She cried.  
  
"Go, NOW!" Shouted Andrew. Suddenly there was a thud as something slammed into his stomach. Izzy flew backwards out of the cloud of blackness, which was still growing. A white ball of power was pushing him back out of the place. It disappeared and Izzy got up. Then he ran with all his might towards the forest. He saw Tai and the others gathered around a tree, staring at it.  
  
"Hey guys there's a thing, it's got. What's that?" He stopped in mid sentence as he saw something imbedded into the tree. "The axe, what did you expect, Turkey?" Replied Tai. "It says something on the hilt, but I can't read it. And none of us have enough strength to pull it out. We tried."  
  
He was right of course. The axe was huge. The hilt that was about four feet long a steel/orange color and the blade another two, which was pure red.  
  
"You were saying?" Asked Sammie. Izzy didn't say anything. On the hilt were inscribed words that he couldn't read, in a strange language. Instinct took over.  
  
"It says that only the strong minded can wield this axe." Izzy told them. Suddenly he looked surprised.  
  
"How do I know that?" He asked.  
  
"Good question. Do we have any strong minded people here?" Kari inquired. "Yeah, Izzy." Replied Joe. They all encouraged him to try it. Slowly, almost resentfully he grabbed the axe. He focused all of his thoughts to will himself to take it out. Nothing.  
  
He pushed himself harder. Still nothing. He was running out of time. He needed to help out Matt and the mages.  
  
"Guys." He cried to his fellow Digidestined. "Go help Matt, he's being attacked.  
  
"Matt, being attacked." Yelped Jennifer, who looked shocked. "Hang on, I'm coming Matt." She tore off. The others trailed after her except Tai.  
  
"Are you okay with this Izzy? Can you handle it?" He asked.  
  
"Of course I can. Go help Matt." Izzy replied. He turned back to the axe. It was glowing orange. If I don't get this thing out, we may not be able to help Matt out. The mages were okay, but how long can that barrier hold out. I've got to pull this thing out. He concentrated with all his might. Slowly, very slowly the heavy axe slid out of the tree. When it was completely out Izzy strained to hold it up. He could only keep it about a foot off of the ground. He tried to run with it, but he could only do it for short bursts of five feet.  
  
As Izzy ran closer to the cloud of darkness he found he was straining not only to hold the axe up, but also to move forward. The magic of Flamebroad was giving small cover from the searing pain that was on the other side of the axe. Suddenly the weight of the axe was ten times heavier. Izzy knew that he wouldn't be able to hold Flamebroad and keep walking. The weight increased, and a blast of pain hit him as he dropped the axe. He fell to his knees screaming. But also being tortured by a howl of pain, he could hear voices.  
  
"DAMMIT, I can't hold this shield much longer." That was Andrew. It sounded like he was keeping up a barrier for everyone.  
  
"Just one more minute Andrew." Tai called. "Izzy will be here in just one minute."  
  
"A MINUTE! I CAN"T HOLD THE SHEILD UP FOR A WHOLE OTHER MINUTE!" He retorted. "HANG ON ANDREW, I'M COMING." John roared, but too late. There was a sound like the power of a computer shutting down, then suddenly screams of pain. The Digimon could be heard from far away. Izzy thought he could hear Tentomon crying, "Izzy you've got to help them!"  
  
Slowly, very slowly he stood up. The pain was lessening, but he could hear screaming from the others. A light seemed to be growing in front of him. Izzy opened his eyes. There was a thin white oval shaped wall in front of him. It was transparent, so he could see. There were four other white lights inside the globe of blackness created by their enemy. John, Andrew, Serra, and Tai who had a very small one, had personal shields active to protect them.  
  
"ANDREW, WHAT'S GOING ON?" Izzy cried to the mage. He swiveled around.  
  
"Izzy!" He returned. "You've got a personal shield. Good job." The other mages looked around and saw him. "When the other Digidestined came, they walked right into the darkness without being touched." Serra explained.  
  
John elaborated, "Yeah, Kari the Child of Light seemed to be able to give them some cover, but it couldn't last. We merged shields and Andrew tried to hold up a big one while we pulled you in with magic. But Andrew couldn't hold it, and the whole thing, including Kari's crashed down on us. I can't blame Andrew because I don't know a single person who can hold up a shield of that magnitude against a Guiltfeeder with a fresh victim."  
  
"A. Guiltfeeder?" Inquired Izzy walking towards Tai, and dragging Flamebroad along with him. Andrew nodded. "Yeah, they're really nasty beings of the dark. They sneak up on people and suck out their guilt to turn into dark energy. Unfortunately for us, this one just picked up a gold mine of the stuff. Matt has almost limitless guilt for killing that guy. DAMMIT. We get horrible timing."  
  
By the time Andrew finished saying that Izzy had reached Tai. He had been crouching down because of the pain. Not to blame him, his shield was about the size of a potato. When Izzy reached him however their shields merged into a larger one. Tai hadn't been screaming, but groaning loudly. When the shields merged, then he stopped and got up.  
  
"Wow, what a knockout." He muttered. "Thanks Izzy."  
  
"No problem. Now, we've got to stop that thing."  
  
"They call it a Guiltfeeder right. Hmmm. Maybe if we can snap Matt out of his guilt, or disconnect that thing, then we can get Matt back."  
  
"Good idea, but I wonder why our personal shields aren't wavering at all." Tai shrugged, but a chilling voice suddenly spoke. The hair on the back of Izzy's head stood up, and Tai looked freaked out.  
  
"Good question." Sneered an evil voice. "But enough of this game. All of you, drop you personal shields. NOW!" The mages looked alert and wary.  
  
"Easy for someone who's hiding in the shadows. Show yourself you wimp." Andrew returned the sneer. There was a flare of green light and suddenly the whole sphere of darkness was bathed in a greenish light. Izzy could see the Digidestined, kneeling, some laying back screaming in pain. The Digimon were also crying out. Matt was still by the lake, being constricted by the Guiltfeeder. Their steeds, which had been standing away near the lake were all dead. All accept one. He recognized the remaining creature as Eldar the White. Andrew was looked very frightened. He ran quickly to the Stag's side.  
  
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Roared Andrew. "GO BACK, WE CAN MAKE IT ON FOOT. I DON'T WANT TO ENDANGER THE OTHERS." The creature nodded and Andrew escorted it away. It walked with a limp. Izzy couldn't figure out how it was killing the creatures, but not the humans. Andrew seemed to read his mind. "We've got to stop that thing, or it'll kill them too." Andrew gestured to the humans and the Digimon. "This is called black torment. It puts one's mind under dark pressure until it cracks, and the affected just flat out die."  
  
The Digimon had been at the place where they had been eating. They were finishing fourths when the Guiltfeeder attacked. Izzy noted they had all Digivolved to their rookie forms. Tai was looking at Agumon. Izzy tapped him and pointed towards the axe he was carrying. Tai glanced at it as the cold voice spoke.  
  
"I told you to drop your personal shields. Do it, or I'll break his throat." As if to add to this, the Guiltfeeder tightened its grip on Matt. He tried to scream out, but it didn't work. Instead he gagged. Tai who was still looking at the axe, yelled out, "Empty threat. If you kill Matt, the you'll have no power." Izzy shook his head. "No tai, If he kills Matt he will still be able to use the black power he has, just he won't have a fresh mine. Hey, how do I know that?" Tai was still looking at Flamebroad when the mages nodded. Their personal shields disappeared and they fell to their knees looking like they were holding back a scream.  
  
Tai suddenly grabbed Flamebroad, and muttered, "Together." Izzy nodded, and together, using their strength of mind, they lifted the axe up. Now thought Izzy. How do I dissipate this shield before he kills Matt. As if in answer to his question, the white shield was dropped. Now the only thing standing between them and black death is a magical axe that had suddenly become ten times harder to hold! Together. Only together can we do this. The weight of Flamebroad seemed to lessen, but only a little. The Guiltfeeder's yellow eyes narrowed. Izzy guessed that it had shot a black beam at him because there was a sudden searing pain in his stomach. He released the axe and was shot backwards about twenty feet! He felt down towards his stomach. For some strange reason the only pain he could feel was coming from there and not all around him. There was blood soaking his clothes. Izzy could tell that the beam had punched right through him. Izzy opened his eyes, straining against the unconsciousness that threatened to take him. There was a transparent shield with a red tint in front of him. He could see Tai standing twenty feet away, straining to hold up the axe. The Guiltfeeder looked completely taken off guard.  
  
"How?" The dark voice called. "How on the three faces of Rhune and you resist my power, even with that axe of yours?" Izzy could tell that Tai was analyzing the situation. All was silent for about half a minute, and then Tai brought up Flamebroad above his head. It came swishing through the air. A fireball rocketed out of the magical axe and fried the Guiltfeeder's head. There was an ear-piercing shriek, and the monstrosity let go of Matt. He spluttered and fell to his knees, as he took deep gasping breaths. The blackness quickly vanished. Everyone stopped screaming and looked completely startled.  
  
The Guiltfeeder opened its eyes. It didn't look too pleased. One of its tentacles began to wrap around Matt, but that didn't seem to matter anymore. The world was disappearing into blackness. Izzy groaned. He knew he was dying. The blood loss was too much, and he would bleed to death. Before the world disappeared in blackness, he suddenly saw a pink patch with blonde all around it appear in front of him. There was a warm feeling down on his stomach. The world slowly began to reappear into his eyes. The face of Mimi was rematerializing in front of him. Her eyes were closed and she was holding her hands down towards his wound. Izzy looked down and saw that there was no wound. Once again Mimi had come to their help by healing him. He sat up and looked around. Mimi opened her eyes and smiled at him. Izzy smiled back and muttered and awkward "Thanks."  
  
Izzy then stood up and looked at the scene that he had been watching. The black skin of the guilt feeder was completely around Matt's neck now, but no black power was emanating from him. It was just chocking him to death. There were three sudden flashed of bright light and three balls of white light smashed into the head, and tentacles of the Guiltfeeder. The three mages had blasted it. He could tell because there was smoke coming out of their outstretched fingertips. They looked cold and menacing. The Guiltfeeder screamed and fell back. Matt began to sputter and cough again as he crawled towards his friends. Tai charged forward, Flamebroad now burning with fire. He brought it swishing through the air to slice the Guiltfeeder, but it dodged. Black tendrils tried to reach out and grab Tai, but he simply kicked away the floating form of the Guiltfeeder. It splattered into the muddy bank on the side of the lake. It looked up just in time to see Tai standing over it, his axe upraised. The foul creatures eyes opened wide, but it didn't have time to scream. Flamebroad came swiftly through the air and imbedded itself into the Guiltfeeder's face. There was an explosion and jets of flame blasted diagonally out on either side of the axe. When the smoke cleared there was only a crater and a little bit of ashes.  
  
Tai wrenched out Flamebroad from the dirt. It looked like easy work. Then he slung it over his shoulder and turned back towards the group. Something hurtled into him, and he dropped Flamebroad. It was Sora. She embraced him and whispered something into his ear. It made him grin and rub the back of his head in an embarrassed sort of way. Meanwhile Andrew came up behind and took Flamebroad. He swished it around through the air once or twice and then twirled it around. It looked like he wasn't even trying. Tai was watching very intently even though Sora was still holding onto him. When she finally let go Andrew tossed him the axe. Tai tried to swish it around too, but it was too heavy for him. Andrew chuckled slightly.  
  
"It requires strength of mind, just like Izzy said, and a whop lot of it. A fine hunk of steel you have there. Well, I guess you can keep it. By the way." He turned towards Izzy.  
  
"You 'knew that' because of your crest. The power of your intelligence combined with the magic of this world to give you a." Andrew was obviously casting around for words to describe it. He settled on "A sixth sense." Izzy smiled, opened his eyes wide, and muttered in a low whisper. "I see dead people." Everyone cracked up. Even the three mages were on the ground laughing. Izzy supposed that even though they were some great figureheads of magical power in their world, they still had time to see movies. Even Matt was laughing a little. John got up still chuckling. When everyone had stopped he looked at Matt sternly.  
  
"Well I hope you're proud of yourself. You nearly got us all killed." Matt, who still was still smiling suddenly looked tense. He was probably guessing that everyone was ready to take a potshot at him when John clapped him on the shoulder. "Happens all the time. Don't worry about it." Jennifer grinned. Andrew extended his hand out towards Matt who looked at it. He then took it. Andrew pulled him up as a blue light shone from the younger ones pocket. Matt frowned.  
  
"What's that?" He asked.  
  
"What's what?" Replied Andrew.  
  
"THAT!" Matt pointed at his pocket. Andrew looked down and saw the blue light glowing from it. He slapped himself and cried, "I forgot all about those!" Andrew reached into his pocket and drew out a bunch of what looked like necklaces. But with a closer look, they realized that they were.  
  
"OUR CRESTS!" Exclaimed Tai. One of them was glowing blue. The mage tossed it to Matt, and then distributed the rest. "I found those one day when I was getting ready to take you to Rhune in the Digital World. I figured they might come in useful.  
  
Five minutes later the mages were swiftly packing up spare food for the journey. Izzy walked over to Andrew and asked him, "Why so quickly? We still have time right?" Andrew didn't even falter in packing. "Let's put it in perspective, if someone suddenly started shooting off firecrackers, began to blow off horns and made every kind of loud noise one might be able to imagine, and finally put up a sign that said 'A lot of stuff is happening here' many people would come see what all the commotion, is that right?"  
  
Izzy looked very confused for a second, but then he realized. "Oh, let me guess, anyone or thing with a sense of magic in a five mile radius will be coming to see what set off so much magic."  
  
"Bingo!" he replied. He finished packing right then and called all of the Digidestined to him. He pulled out a thing that looked like a C with a flat back. When Tai got over to them Andrew turned him around and stuck the thing on his back. It stayed as if it were glued there; he then walked away to talk to his sister.  
  
"What did he do?" Inquired Tai. Sora and TK examined his back, and his ax.  
  
"Move your ax back, no down, now turn it diagonal, now just push it back, now let go." TK directed him so he fit the ax into the holder. When he let go, it just stayed there. Tai looked back and exclaimed, "Cool." About a minute later they set out again. This time they were walking instead of riding, so they wouldn't make nearly as good time. But they were still going.  
  
*Meanwhile*  
  
Back in the real world a bus rolled to a stop somewhere in Odiabia. The door swung open and four people hopped out. One had long purple hair, and brown eyes. Another one had very dark blue hair with brown eyes as well. The third one looked just like the second, but much shorter. The last one had spiky brown hair and brown eyes. They were all carrying luggage and it was about the middle of the day. The bus rolled away as the purple haired one cried, "We're back!" The tall one with blue hair smiled and said, "Calm down Yolei. Yeah, we're back after vacation, but we don't have to flip out about it." She grinned at him. "Well I can't help being happy Ken." The short one called out, "That was more fun than I've ever had. I'm not even remotely tired." Finally the last one spoke. "Let's get the others together so we can do something. I agree with Cody, I'm not even remotely tired." He cried out. Suddenly a small blue creature poked out of his bag. It had little horns and was incredibly cute.  
  
"Davis, can we do something. I'm really bored. That city was even more boring. All we did is look." Davis laughed and told the little creature, "It may have been boring for you Demiveemon, but well. oh never mind. I agree with you. Let's GO!" "Yeah!" The rest cried out. They sprinted off while Cody yelled to the others, "Meet in the park in twenty minutes!"  
  
Twenty minutes later Ken came sprinting into the park. He wasn't even panting. He simply stopped, looked around, and sat down waiting for the others. Not far behind him were Cody and Davis, both looking slightly tired. They spotted Ken and walked over to him.  
  
"Anything?" Asked Davis. He looked slightly distracted, like something was nagging at the back of his mind."  
  
"No." Replied the Genius. "I asked for Mimi and Izzy, but got nothing. Their parents didn't even seem to care where they are." "Same here." Replied Davis and Cody unanimously. Right on cue Yolie ran over. She was breathing deeply.  
  
"Hey guys. Guess what, I just went to some of the others houses and they're not there, and their parents don't seem to care where they've gone!" She sputtered while trying to catch her breath. Ken stood up. "This is serious. None of the Digidestined are here except us. Where could they have gone?" The question hung in the air for a moment like a mist. Then the answer hit them all at once. It was so simple.  
  
"THE DIGITAL WORLD!" They all cried. Everyone sprinted off. Ken leading and Yolie trailing clutching a stitch in her side. When they got to the school they burst through the doors of the computer lab. And brought up the map of the digital world. Yolie sat down in the chair while glaring at the rest.  
  
"You could've waited up you know." She snarled at them.  
  
"You should've kept up." Davis told her. Yolie looked just about to reply when the map screen flashed up. There was a small message in the bottom left-hand corner that said: Last Login: 9/1/02 Everyone stared at it.  
  
"Ahhhh, that was two days ago." Yolie practically fainted.  
  
"What do they think they've been doing in there for two days." Cody asked.  
  
"Nothing." Replied Davis. "They're not there. And they haven't been for two days." He pointed directly below the last login. He was right of course. The Digidestineds' signal was nowhere on the map of the Digital world. There was Last Logout: 08/30/02. The New Digidestined stood in silence for a minute then Ken asked the question running on everyone's minds. "Where are they? 


	7. Revelations

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, that's owned by Toei, Bandai, and other people, or any Digimon characters that they created. The characters Lexx and Cunomon belong to ussfantasy@hotmail.com, Jennifer and Foximon belong to foximon@inreach.com, and Sammie and Foxmon belong to fluffysessie@hotmail.com. Andrew Windstalker, Serra Windstalker, and John Chronos belong to me. You may contact me at Tash@dbzmail.com  
  
  
  
Part Two: The Division  
  
Chapter Seven: Revelations  
  
Jennifer Takenouchi continued to walk down the hilly plains of the planet Rhune. It had been about seven hours since the Guiltfeeder had attacked their party and the Digidestined, and the Digimon, were all tired. Andrew, John, and Serra however weren't tired in any way, shape or form. Jennifer looked up at the sky as she marched next to her true love Yamoto Ishada also called Matt. What a weird sunset. The sky seemed to be on fire. The three moons that were now clearly visible shined like mirrors. Jennifer accidentally bumped into her twin sister Sora as she stopped. Jennifer looked down and saw that everyone had stopped. Andrew was looking up at the moons as well.  
  
"Everyone gather close together quick." He told them.  
  
Confused, Jennifer gathered close to the others. They formed a tight ball together with the three mages in front staring at the moons. She seriously hoped they weren't being attacked again. Jennifer had had just about enough of every creep that had shown up so far.  
  
Jennifer stopped staring at the moons and looked right ahead of them. Something was moving. A bright light was coming at them at a remarkable rate. She froze; this was getting a little freaky. Jennifer quickly glanced up at the moons one last time. When her eyes flew back down to the moving light, she realized something. The shining moons were actually projecting that light. The light from the sun was somehow reflecting off of the surface of the moons and creating a massive light. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who had noticed this light. Matt seemed to be staring speechless at it and Joe was looking scared. The projection came closer and closer. Jen was starting to worry now, not everything on this planet was predictable. Why they might be teleported to the moons or be blasted right back to earth. The light passed over them and.  
  
This had to be the most wonderful feeling Jennifer had ever experienced. She felt like she was flying, and a warm feeling inside of her made her want to just cry out with joy. Everything had gone white and happiness flooded her for about one minute before things returned to normal. Jennifer looked around with a happy bubble still swelling in her stomach. Everyone else had identical expressions of pure bliss on their faces. Even Andrew, John, and Serra looked extremely happy. John turned around and asked everyone, "Didn't that just feel great."  
  
"Yes." Was their reply.  
  
"I have a question." Called Joe.  
  
"Yes?" Asked Serra.  
  
He asked, "Did that light remove tiredness from out bodies?"  
  
"No." Serra told him.  
  
"No wonder I feel so tired then." Joe looked about ready to fall over. Jennifer quickly held back a snigger. Andrew looked back on all of the Digidestined and their partners were looking exhausted. He put his hand behind his head.  
  
"Sorry guys. I didn't realize all of you were that tired. Maybe we should tuck in for tonight."  
  
Five minutes later they came upon a flat place between the hills. Remarkably in the last five minutes the sun had completely set. John said it had something to do with their current position. Andrew showed them how to take a bath like thing.  
  
He twisted the sleeve of his right arm. At once water and soap spread throughout his body, soaking him. He then twisted the left sleeve and he became dry. Everyone did this but got a little mixed up. Finally when everyone had done it right Serra conjured sleeping bags up for everyone. When they had made sure everyone was nice and comfy ("For me a cushy bed is nice and comfy." Mumbled Mimi. "Hey Serra, think you can conjure us up a hotel." Laughed Tai "Ha ha. Very funny Tai." Serra giggled.) the three mages walked to the top of the hill and sat down. They all seemed to be watching the sky.  
  
"What do you think they're doing?" Asked Jennifer to her closest companion, Matt.  
  
"Dunno. What, can't get to sleep? Need me to read you a bed time story." Matt joked.  
  
"Shut up." She growled at him with a chuckle. "Besides, you don't know any good ones."  
  
"Maybe, but then again John, Andrew, and Serra probably know lots." He replied.  
  
Jennifer grinned. "So pretty boy, gonna go and ask them."  
  
"Shut up." He growled but he couldn't suppress a laugh.  
  
"Seriously now, I do want to ask them something." Jennifer told him. She got up, but Matt said, "I'll come too. I want to ask them something as well."  
  
They got up and trudged up the hill. When they got to the top Andrew, John, and Serra were still there, and they were still staring into the sky.  
  
"Want me to tell you a bed time story. Okay, once upon a time." John muttered to his visitors.  
  
"Can it." Growled Matt.  
  
John ignored him and continued, "There were two constellations. One called Ursa Major, one called Ursa Minor. Somehow, both of these constellations became self-aware. They both took on the shapes of bears and watched civilizations grow. They became filled with anger, for every time the giant bears tried to approach civilization they people ran away. Over time the Ursa brothers anger grew, and soon they attacked civilizations across the world of Rhune. After millions of lives were extinguished, Angels rained from the sky. With their combined power they managed to subdue Ursa Major and Minor and take away their powers. Now they just remain in the sky, symbolizing the horrible past."  
  
Matt and Jennifer stood transfixed, staring at John. Great, that's exactly what I wanted to hear before going to bed. Though Jennifer.  
  
"That's awful." Matt trailed off. John shrugged.  
  
"It's not like nothing good came out of it. Every good person killed were converted into an Angel, and people gained a new power." He explained. They both stared at him mutely. Jennifer recovered enough to ask, "What power?"  
  
"The power of Ursa's Rage." He replied.  
  
"Now aren't there too many Angels to count?" Asked Matt. John snorted, "Yes, but there still aren't enough to combat evil. Not single handedly anyway."  
  
"How do you know all of this?" Inquired Jennifer.  
  
This time Andrew spoke, "You're going to have to learn my friends, that things that would seem mysterious or answers that might seem difficult to attain are common knowledge here on Rhune. Just like how unnatural power on earth is normal here." Both Digidestined just stared at him. He was quite impassive, just staring at the stars.  
  
"Anyway, what were you going to ask before I told you that story?" John asked Jennifer and Matt. Jennifer shook of the shock from his tale and brought up the question she had wanted to ask, "I noticed that Matt and Tai are the only ones besides you three that have weapons. I also notice that we have no armor. How are supposed to protect ourselves if we have no weapons or armor?" The question hung in the still air for a moment before it was answered.  
  
"You Digidestined may catch on quickly, but you still have a lot to learn about this planet. First off, the reason we didn't give you weapons is because we didn't believe you were capable of wielding one. yet. Tai and Matt both showed they were ready for some kind of weapon. Flamebroad and Cresinendo happened to show up at good times. Tai showed he was worthy when he killed the Guiltfeeder, and Matt when he killed the Dark Seeker."  
  
Serra paused, as if listening for something, but then carried on  
  
"Secondly, when battle showed up, we never had time to suit up. That answer your question?" She barely finished her answer when Andrew stood up. Jennifer, however continued, "Well then, why don't we just wear our around all the time? I suppose we need to get stronger to save our world."  
  
Andrew grinned down at her.  
  
"Yes," He told her. "You may need to be stronger, but you already are becoming stronger when we were traveling. Besides, with Torm's followers all around-"  
  
"All around?" Matt cut him off. "What do you mean all around us. We haven't seen anything for a couple miles."  
  
"Chaos comes in many forms, most not visible to the naked eye. I doubt you really want to see them. Anyway, stealth is our best weapon for the moment." He shot back.  
  
"If there's chaos all over the place then why haven't they seen us." Jennifer asked him as Serra stood up like Andrew.  
  
"Well this cluster of hills, it's not coincidental that it's like this. Underneath the ground are magical creatures called wurms. Anyone who walks on these plains usually gets eaten, so the forces of chaos don't think we're here. I have a good contact with these creatures, and I told him we would be coming this way. Once we're clear of these fields, Torm's followers will be scarce. And in case you're wondering how I know this, a few powerful scanning spells did the trick. And the magic of these fields masked my spell."  
  
Matt and Jennifer were looking very surprised, but they didn't have time to recover before Andrew and Serra started walking down the hill, away from the Digidestined.  
  
"Where are you going?" Asked Matt. They both stopped and Serra turned back.  
  
"There's some strange power that we can feel. It's coming from over there, and we're going to check it out. Want to come?" Serra replied. Both Digidestined agreed and they all walked down the hill and started up the next one. John stayed to watch over the others. It was hard to imagine that they were walking on magical creatures. I guess we'll just have to trust Andrew on this one. Jennifer thought.  
  
Continuing across the hills, the landscape seemed to get darker, and the hills became scarcer. Fifteen minutes later, when they came to the crest of the last hill Andrew stopped them. He and Serra got down on their hands and knees and crawled to the top, then gestured Jennifer and Matt to do the same. When Jennifer got to the top of the hill, it was apparent what that strange power they were talking about was. Jennifer could see three types of people standing in circles out in wheat fields. One type looked like the Dark Seekers, but didn't have swords or bows. Instead they had staffs with a symbol of the moon on them. Another one was also looking human, but they were completely cloaked so no one could see their features. The last type had a humanoid shape, but they were far from human. Those things had tall red bodies with spines running up their bodies. Their heads were pointed, and they had long tails that ended in an arrowhead. Jennifer could see whips and swords in their belts. The ground around all of them was littered with stones, which seemed to make some strange shapes. All of them were chanting some strange language.  
  
Jennifer looked at Andrew, and by the look on his face, she could tell he hadn't found this on his scanning spell.  
  
"Demons." He whispered in an awed way. "Demons, and Undead, and Chaos worshipers, working together."  
  
"What is it?" Jennifer asked. She didn't like the sound of those things working together. He turned towards her and muttered, "It's a summoning spell. They're trying to call up." He suddenly sprang up and cried, "We've got to stop them!" He whipped out his shimmering sword and started to run down the hill. But he stopped.  
  
"Too late." Andrew groaned.  
  
The stones began to glow. Red lines fired right out of the rocks and intersected with each other. Andrew slowly backed up until he was at the crest of the hill, then he dropped down again. The rocks now make a symbol that was glowing red. There was a pulse of strong red light, and the ground exploded. Rocks flew everywhere, and something black came out of the pit where the rocks had been. It looked like one big shadow. However, looking closer Jennifer could see it was made up of thousands of smaller creatures. Their shadows looked like the demons that were chanting, and there was one massive one in front of them. They hovered in the air for a moment, before another mass came out of the ground. This one, everything was relatively the same looking. Humanoid, but there were holes in them. These things looked like they were.  
  
"Skeletons warriors." Growled Serra. She was clearly frightened, but angry. These too hovered in the air for a moment before the final mass emerged. The finals were also humanoid, and Jennifer had a nasty feeling that these were Chaos Warriors. The one in front of them all was taller than the rest.  
  
All three legions hovered in the air for a moment, before the pit beneath them closed. They all landed on the ground beneath them, and roared a horrible cry to the world. Jennifer could feel a tugging on her shoulder. Serra was shaking her.  
  
"Come on, we need to get out of here. Now." She told Jennifer. She took one last look back at the legions, and saw five people detach themselves from the main crowd, before getting up and going with her. They sprinted back towards the Digidestined.  
  
"What were those things?" Asked Matt.  
  
"Demons, Undead, and Chaos Warriors. A long time ago when Rhune was created, three greater evils were created as well. One of them was Torm, Champion of Chaos. The second was Necros, the Lord of the Undead. And the final was Tanhari, The King of Demons and Darkness. These three were called the Three Primevils, and they never ceased in tormenting everything on Rhune. Every once in a while, a hero would come along and kill them, sending them back to their plane. Usually they weren't a big threat, because they did not work together very well. They would always fight each other, but now they're united and they're powerful when they're like that. And since Torm wants to kill you." Andrew trailed off  
  
"He'll make his voice heard. They'll all be after you." Serra picked up. They had now reached where the camp was.  
  
As they came over the crest of the hill, Andrew clenched his fists. White power glowed on them. He placed on hand on Matt's heart, and one on Serra's. They both glowed white, and armor wrapped onto all of their bodies. Andrew and Serra's were both white in color, but Matt's was blue. All four of them ran down the hill (With Andrew, and Serra holding onto Matt as he was barreling down the hill completely out of control) and began to shout, "Guys, get up now! We gotta go!" But they were already up.  
  
In front of them was a fully armored John, facing off against five other figures. One of them was obviously a demon, with his red skin and pointed tail. Another one was obviously a Chaos Warrior, by looking at his outfit. The one in the middle was quite disgusting. He was all bones, with rotting flesh hanging off of them. Those parts were scarcely visible by his wrappings of tons of different cloths. There was one eye that was visible and it was just as rotten as his flesh. That guy had to be Undead. The last two were strange looking however. The one on the left was a raptor, as in the dinosaur, but his eyes were covered in a mask, and his tail was curved in a scythe. Wings like a bat's stuck out of his back. That thing looked quite vicious. The final one wasn't at all strange looking compared to what they had seen, just a giant black vulture with black eyes.  
  
"John the Three Primevils are united again." Serra quickly told him.  
  
"I gather as much." He growled. He pulled out his crossbow as Serra took out her lance. Tai, who was also completely armored, came up with Matt. His or her Digimon followed suit and everyone stood ready to fight.  
  
"Jennifer," Jennifer looked down and saw Foximon standing there. "Those two on the ends are Digimon. The raptor is called Deviraptordramon. He's Mega, and he's pretty nasty. The other one is called Vulturamon. He's also Mega, and his special attack is called Big Bang."  
  
The five were sniggering now, and Vulturamon had gotten up and flown in front of the rest of them. Energy began to gather around him. Andrew realized what he was doing, and turned to the others.  
  
"RUN!" He shouted. "RUN TOWARDS THAT MOUNTAIN, NOW!"  
  
They didn't need to be told twice. Sprinting with all their might, they ran towards the mountain in the distance. They barely cleared the first hill, before something yelled, "BIG BANG!"  
  
Jennifer turned and saw a white ball of light swelling behind them. It caught up with them and sent Jennifer flying. She tried to cry out, but it got lost in the sound of an explosion. All she saw was white, and then everything turned black. 


End file.
